UEFA country ranking France Portugal gap, Digi Mart USA News: France keeps fifth place in the UEFA country ranking, but its lead over Portugal continues to shrink. After the fourth matchday of the European competitions, the gap between the two nations is now just 3.146 points.
French clubs posted an overall positive record with three wins, three draws and one defeat. Marseille’s victory at Bayer Leverkusen, secured by a goal from Amine Gouiri, was not enough to stop Portugal from further reducing its deficit in the ranking, which is calculated over five seasons.
Portuguese representatives enjoyed a particularly successful week with four wins and one draw. In the Champions League, Sporting Portugal beat Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0, while FC Porto dominated Napoli 4-1 for its first win of the season in the competition.
Benfica also won in the Europa League, beating Lech Poznan 3-1.
Torreense, a second-division club, earned a victory over Ararat-Armenia 3-2 thanks to two goals scored in added time. Only Braga dropped points, with a 0-0 draw against Aarhus in the Conference League.
The UEFA ranking still places France fifth with 72.296 points, ahead of Portugal on 69.150 points. The gap was 3.660 points before this European matchday and is now 3.146.
Since the start of the season, France’s advantage has fallen from 4.832 to 3.146 points.
The French week was marked by Paris Saint-Germain’s heavy 6-0 win at Villarreal and Lille’s goalless draw at Bodø/Glimt in the Champions League. In the Europa League, Marseille won at Leverkusen, Lyon drew 1-1 with Real Sociedad, and Rennes was held to a 0-0 draw by Olympiacos.
Monaco beat Nordsjaelland 2-0, while RC Lens suffered a heavy 9-1 home defeat to Como.
Fifth place in the UEFA ranking currently gives a country seven representatives in European competitions. It offers three direct qualifications for the Champions League league phase and a place in the third qualifying round.
France has already secured its seven representatives for the 2027-2028 season. However, the allocation of places for 2028-2029 will depend on the final ranking at the end of the current season.
Belgium, seventh, trails France by 8.246 points, while Germany, fourth, holds a 12.677-point lead.
