LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – APRIL 11: Ibrahima Konate of Liverpool and Gianluca Scamacca of Atalanta pull … [+] on each other’s shirts during the UEFA Europa League 2023/24 Quarter-Final first leg match between Liverpool FC and Atalanta at Anfield on April 11, 2024 in Liverpool, England.(Photo by Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
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Italy’s Serie A is confirmed as Europe’s strongest league after topping the 2023-24 season UEFA Association Coefficient ranking.
The English Premier League slipped from first to third, allowing Serie A and the German Bundesliga to claim first and second position respectively.
France’s Ligue 1 moved up from seventh to fourth, overtaking Spain’s La Liga which fell one place into fifth. With PAOK and Olympiacos going deep in the UEFA Europa Conference League (UECL), the Greek Super League has risen thirty places from fortieth to tenth.
Serie A’s first-place ranking is based on the overall points obtained by all seven Italian teams competing in the UEFA Champions League (UCL), UEFA Europa League (UEL) and UECL. The governing body UEFA has calculated Italy’s average score to be the highest, currently at 20.714, by dividing the points obtained (wins, draws and losses) by the number of clubs competing.
As a result, Italy and Germany earned an extra league phase place for next season’s UCL, securing the two new European Performance Spots awarded to the top two associations.
BERGAMO, ITALY – APRIL 24: Gianluca Scamacca of Atalanta scores goal during the Coppa Italia … [+] Semi-final second leg match between Atalanta and ACF Fiorentina at Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia on April 24, 2024 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Image Photo Agency/Getty Images)
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UEFA Association Season Ranking 2023-24
Serie A (Italy)
Bundesliga (Germany)
The Premier League (England)
Ligue 1 (France)
La Liga (Spain)
Five of the six European club finals have featured at least one Serie A side over the past two seasons, further boosting Calcio’s profile on the world stage following Italy’s Euro 2020 title.
In 2022-23, Inter (UCL), Roma (UEL) and Fiorentina (UECL) ended the season as losing finalists against Manchester City, Sevilla and West Ham respectively.
The finalists for 2023-24 were decided throughout the week following the eliminations of Aston Villa, Club Brugge, Roma, Marseille, Bayern Munich and PSG. The Greek, German, Italian and Spanish associations still have hopes of bringing home silverware.
Atalanta qualified for Dublin’s UEL Final on May 22nd after cruising past Marseille. Gian Piero Gasperini’s side faces Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen who eliminated Roma. It will be Atalanta’s first-ever European final of any kind.
For the second successive year, Fiorentina is through to the UECL Final. Coach Vincenzo Italiano can forget about last year’s loss to West Ham by beating Olympiacos in Athens on May 29th.
Borussia Dortmund is the Bundesliga’s other remaining representative. Their manager Edin Terzić will confront four-time winner Carlo Ancelotti and Real Madrid in the UCL Final at London’s Wembley Stadium on June 1st.
Los Blancos could win their sixth UCL title of the past decade and a fifteenth overall. Dortmund could upset the Spaniards to clinch their second.
With Fiorentina and Atalanta owned by Americans Rocco Commisso and Stephen Pagliuca respectively, the United States has two chances of realising UEFA glory in May.
Roma, also US-owned (The Friedkin Group), was the last Italian team to win a European trophy when they beat Feyenoord in the inaugural UECL Final of 2022.
Overall, it was another excellent season for Serie A. Milan’s UCL group stage victory over Newcastle United meant that all seven Serie A teams progressed into the knockout stages, crucial for picking up extra coefficient points.
Milan, who is owned by American investment firm RedBird Capital Partners, finished third in the Group Of Death that also contained Borussia Dortmund and PSG. The Rossoneri then dropped down to the UEL and were eventually eliminated by Roma in their quarter-final clash.
Napoli, Lazio and Inter suffered at the hands of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid respectively in the UCL knockout stages. This marks the last UCL format of eight groups with four teams.
ISTANBUL, TURKEY – JUNE 10: The UEFA Champions League trophy is seen on a plinth prior to the UEFA … [+] Champions League 2022/23 final match between FC Internazionale and Manchester City FC at Ataturk Olympic Stadium on June 10, 2023 in Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
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2024-25’s New Champions League
By omitting the group stage, the UCL is undergoing a new look from next season. Thirty-six teams will compete in a single league with each team playing eight matches against different opponents.
As first and second-ranked leagues, both Serie A and the Bundesliga could have six teams each in the Champions League.
There is an interesting scenario playing out in Germany where two rounds remain. Firstly, if fifth-placed Borussia Dortmund beats Real Madrid, the extra spot would go to the Bundesliga’s sixth-placed team, Eintracht Frankfurt.
This is the crazy part: if Eintracht defeats RB Leipzig in the last round, Dortmund could rise to fourth place meaning Leipzig would claim the fifth UCL spot and Eintracht would miss out, sent to the UEL instead.
Simply put, Eintracht is better off losing against Leipzig to qualify for the UCL but face the risk of allowing seventh-placed Freiburg to overtake them.
With three rounds remaining of the 2023-24 Serie A campaign, Milan and new champions Inter have secured their UCL passage in 2024-25. Juventus, Bologna and Atalanta are favourites to round out the top five and claim the three other places.
Should Atalanta win the UEL, then the European Performance Spot Italy earned would be transferred to the team that finishes sixth in Serie A, currently Roma.
Giallorossi manager Daniele De Rossi, recently confirmed as Jose Mourinho’s full-time replacement, must climb above Atalanta in the standings or rely on Leverkusen losing the UEL Final.
Equal on 60 points each, the Bergamaschi have an extra Serie A game in hand against Fiorentina, rescheduled following the passing of Viola CEO Joe Barone in March.
If ninth-placed Fiorentina wins the UECL, they are automatically entered into the UEL next season meaning that Serie A will send nine clubs – Napoli and Lazio included – into European action, providing a significant economic boost to nearly half the division.
Just over a decade ago, Italy had dropped in the coefficient rankings so badly that only two Serie A teams were guaranteed UCL football.
By the end of May, Serie A could be the trailblazer of European soccer’s brave new world.
REGGIO NELL’EMILIA, ITALY – MAY 13: The Coppa Italia is pictured during a press conference to … [+] present the Coppa Italia Final between Atalanta BC and Juventus at Sala del Tricolore on May 13, 2021 in Reggio nell’Emilia, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images for Lega Serie A)
Getty Images for Lega Serie A
Source link : https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidferrini/2024/05/10/serie-a-confirmed-top-uefa-association-leaping-the-premier-league/
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Publish date : 2024-05-11 07:00:00
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