Extra Champions League spot for the Netherlands after Sporting's loss

As of next year, the Netherlands may send two football clubs into the group stage of the Champions League. The Netherlands is assured of at least sixth place on the UEFA coefficient ranking due to Thursday evening's European football results.

This means that next season the Eredivisie champion and the runner-up will qualify for the group stage of the Champions League.

This season, the club that finishes second in the third qualifying round of the top European cup tournament will enter. Next season, the team that finishes third will receive a ticket for the preliminary rounds while the numbers 1 and 2 from the Eredivisie will receive a ticket to the lucrative group stage of the Champions League.

Qualification for the Champions League yields a starting payment of almost 15.64 million euros. That amount can the increase considerably through premiums and broadcast revenue.

The Netherlands took over sixth place in the UEFA ranking from Portugal during this season due to the performance of the clubs at the European level. Although UEFA will only draw up the access list for 2024-2025 at the end of this season, the results from Feyenoord’s 1-0 win against AS Roma and AZ’s 2-0 loss against Anderlecht on Thursday evening mean that the Netherlands is assured of at least sixth place.

Portugal, which also has two clubs active in Europe, with Benfica in the Champions League and Sporting Portugal in the Europa League, can no longer catch up to the Netherlands. The Dutch football association, KNVB, also confirmed this.

The European score lines pushed the Netherlands firmly into sixth, the KNVB said. “This will result in a total of six tickets for European football from the 2024-2025 season, including two tickets for the group stage of the Champions League, which will then be played in a new format. In addition, a third club can qualify to join the very best European clubs through the qualifying rounds for that phase of the tournament,” a KNVB spokesperson said.

“And let's not forget the three other tickets: two tickets for the Europa League (one of which is group stage) and one ticket for the Conference League."

The second ticket for the Netherlands in the Champions League comes at a good time. The participants will face a different set-during in the 2024-2025 season. The Champions League will expand from 32 to 36 participants, who will play no fewer than ten matches against different participants. The group phase with six matches for each club will disappear.

The advantage for all participants is that the prize money will increase considerably due to the extra competitions.