UEFA Co-efficient.
I'm one of the estimated 1-3 people who will care about this and that's fine Football matches aren't won here and there's no trophy for a good score, but it's a fantastic indication of the incredible job that Klopp and the squad are doing all the same, so here it is.
As 99% of you will know -
- The UEFA club coefficient rankings are based on the results of all European clubs in UEFA club competition.
- The association club coefficient or country rankings take into account the results of all clubs from each association and are used to determine the number of entries an association is granted for forthcoming seasons.
- The club coefficient rankings take into account the results of each club in UEFA club competition and are used to determine a club’s seeding in club competition draws.
- The coefficients – from which the rankings are formed and which are based on performances over the last five seasons – will be updated directly after each completed round of UEFA club competition matches.
It's been updated to take this season into account and it makes for very pleasant reading.
In the 16/17 season, we weren't in Europe, on account of our low League position and Europa League Final loss in the previous season. So the big fat zero score was a huge anchor, weighing down our total score. The system rewards consistency, so a club could be regularly in Europe and theoretically have a higher overall score despite not going far in the tournament.
In 20/21 our score of 101 put us 9th, only narrowly ahead of Arsenal (which seems laughable) in 10th.
Now tiny drum roll we are third(for now) and only bettered by Bayern Munich (1st) and Man City (2nd) as we have finally shifted that zero score from 16/17, which has been a loooong time coming.
Provided we stay relatively consistent in European competitions for a few seasons we should stay relatively high in the rankings, which will see us nicely seeded more often than not and thus give us "easier" group stages mostly. We can expect some drop in the positions as we will lose the 30 points and the 29 points over the next couple of seasons, which will be very hard to fully replace, but still.
Current score (21/22) -
17/18 - 30 points
18/19 - 29 points
19/20 - 18 points
20/21 - 24 points
21/22 - 4 points (for now, this will go up)
Total - 105 points
Pretty great to see!
Looking at another club (Arsenal) we can see just how quickly a club might fall -
17/18 - 21 points
18/19 - 26 points
19/20 - 10 points
20/21 - 23 points
21/22 - 0 points
Total - 80 points
If we imagine Arsenal miss out on European football again (and thus have a 0-score in 22/23) and inevitably lose the 17/18 score of 21 points then they'll drop right down to 59 points. Thus (potentially) finding it harder to break back into Europe/lower seeding when they get there/more difficult groups when they return. In short, Arsenal could, as a "European power" become really irrelevant, really quickly if they aren't exceedingly careful. Indeed, we faced the abyss ourselves - we'll see that by charting our own progress back to 04/05.
04/05 - 95 points - 5th
05/06 - 85 points - 6th
06/07 - 90 points - 3rd (AC Milan first and Inter fourth, mental how that's changed!)
07/08 - 94 points - 3rd
08/09 - 103 points - 3rd
09/10 - 99 points - 5th
10/11 - 98 points - 5th
11/12 - 74 points - 11th
12/13 - 62 points - 17th
13/14 - 42 points - 32nd
14/15 - 31 points - 42nd
15/16 - 41 points - 35th
16/17 - 41 points - 34th
17/18 - 62 points - 22nd
18/19 - 91 points - 11th
19/20 - 99 points - 10th
20/21 - 101 points - 9th
21/22 - 105 points - 3rd (for now)
I actually find seeing that low spell in European rankings much more horrifying than looking at League table positions domestically. But more significantly, it shows were we were in Europe under Rafa's spell and how Klopp has pretty much got us back into the upper areas again and God that makes me so damned happy to see, particularly having shaken off the damage done by what was a very alarming fall.
As to how far we can take it this season - who knows! But a strong Champion's League campaign with fans in the floodlit stadium would be a real treat, needless to say.
Your hobbies are rollerblading and you're also a bit of a rat-hound? Steel Wool
Sid knows he's crazy and he likes it. Balinkay
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