Greek teams are preparing to take part in the European fights in the 2022-2023 season, which will play a much bigger role than most people can understand at the moment. The harvest of the current season influences what happens two years later, and in this case the two years coincide with the launch of the new format of European competitions.

The Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League will be played with more teams from the 2024-2025 season, with UEFA having explained what will happen in the group stage but blurring the picture in qualifying.

That Sportish tries to get a first impression of the situation that will prevail in qualifying from summer 2024 and, above all, to clarify what Greece wants from its clubs this summer (but of course also after the season) in order to get a red carpet laying out future.

Greece’s position in the UEFA rankings

Greece finished the 2021-2022 season in 15th place in UEFA, a significant improvement from last year’s disastrous 20th place. The 8,000 points offered to our country by Greek clubs represents the best harvest of the 11,250 of 2001-2002, although the addition of a third event somewhat skews Greece’s success.

The benefits of this five-place rise will be seen in the 2023-2024 season, the final of the 2021-2024 cycle and the current format of UEFA competitions. This season, Greece will have its champion in the 2nd qualifying round of the Champions League (instead of the 1st), it will have a second team in the tournament (on the way of non-champions), while its cup winners will play in the Europa League instead for the Europa Conference League. At the last event, as now, he retains two spots in the 2nd qualifying round. In fact, all of this may take a turn for the better when the usual dominoes appear that are tied to who will win this year’s competitions.

The mystery with 12th place and 15th place goal

How the UEFA rankings will be linked to the new format of international competitions is currently unknown. The European Confederation created an access list, but it has not been published, probably because it is not final yet.

Based on leaked data, the most significant change will be 12th in the UEFA rankings compared to what is currently the case. It can mean that the champion of the 12th country qualifies directly for the group stage, it can mean that the countries ranked 13th and higher have fewer representatives in the European competitions, it can also be something completely different.

What will not change, but will consolidate, are the privileges of 15th place. According to the same information, there will be a change for the better and the 15th place will not have any differences in its offer compared to the 13th and 14th, which is not true now.

So, in the 2024-2025 season, 15th place will definitely provide two “tickets” to qualifying for the Champions League, and this should be the main goal of Greece and, consequently, its representatives.

The opponents for 15th place

Greece start this season from 16th in the UEFA rankings with 23,100 points but will fight their way uncut Russia (12th place in the ranking). UEFA’s punishment for the war in Ukraine leaves them without clubs in this year’s competitions, with Greece needing just 3,115 points to overtake them at the end of the season. From there the clashes with seven countries begin.

THE Serbia starts this season from 11th place and with 27,000 points is among the countries that have a large lead to remain high at the end of the year.

THE Ukraine he is currently 13th on 24,600 points but what is happening at his limits and the fact that his clubs cannot play there is in itself a huge obstacle. The Ukrainian clubs have been inactive for about half a year, have lost all foreigners and will appear significantly weakened, which makes it very difficult to keep the country so high in the rankings.

Ukraine could face another disadvantage along the way Denmark who is in 19th place with 21,925 points. The two countries each have five representatives, which means that the points they earn are divided by five, rather than four like all other competing countries. This differentiation only works profitably if all representatives award points, which is particularly the case for the strongest countries. It has been shown in the past that below-elite countries cannot cope with the large division and it is more efficient to have few and good representatives.

Bodo Glimt’s run last season alone “pulled” her. Norway of the four high-ranking representatives is a typical example, as has been the case with Basel and Switzerland for years Switzerland. The first is now 14th in the rankings with 23,250 points and the second is 15th with 23,175 points, making them two of Greece’s most important opponents for a place in the UEFA top 15.

From then on the Czech Republic with 22,300 points and the Croatian at 22,025 are close enough to track both our country and those above while the Turkey it starts from afar with 20,300 points and also has five representatives, a condition that can become detrimental.

Where do our representatives want to help Greece?

Ukraine and Denmark are at a distinct disadvantage with the five teams, but having so many representatives means they used to be high up the table and therefore their teams start from more advanced rounds. In particular, they are the only countries in question to have a guaranteed group stage at an event: Ukraine with Shakhtar in the Champions League groups, Denmark with Copenhagen in the Europa League (if excluded in the Champions League play-offs). The ticket holders of the two countries’ cup winners, Dnipro and Silkeborg respectively, will continue in the Europa Conference League groups if eliminated in the Europa League play-offs, from where they start their European course.

This is the key for Greece. Presence in a group stage, namely the weakest of the three events, the Europa Conference League, will be very important for our country’s harvest in the UEFA rankings. Greece will get the necessary points as our clubs will theoretically have weaker opponents in the group. You might not get the bonuses of the other two tournaments (4 points just for group membership in Champions League, big qualifying bonuses in knockout rounds and Europa League), but you have the opportunity to get very high value to achieve harvest with easy wins like those of PAOK last year against Lincoln Red Ibs.

How teams earn points in tournaments

UEFA shares two points for every win and one for every draw in the group stage and then in their three tournaments. At the same time, each club can earn bonus points depending on the stage it is in, with the exception of the round of 16 and the quarter-finals of the Europa Conference League. In addition, the playoffs for the round of 16 in the Europa League and the Europa Conference League do not earn any points for the clubs, but are included in the calculation of the ranking of the countries.

In qualifying, points are halved for wins and ties (1 and 0.5 respectively), but again this is only a country ranking and not a club ranking.

It is recalled that the points offered by a country’s clubs are divided by the number of representatives that country had at the start of the season. Consequently, victory in the groups brings 2 points for a Greek team, but 0.5 for Greece, which has four representatives. That’s why he needs everyone’s support for as long as possible during the season.