Djurgården’s European adventure ended against Lech Poznan. This means that Sweden stays at 6,250 points on the UEFA-ranking this season. This is the best Swedish score in the five years on which the UEFA ranking is based.
“We see directly an effect when more than one Swedish team qualifies for an international group stage. A clear goal is for us to achieve that every year. If we could do so we as a country will advance in the league ranking”, says Svante Samuelsson, sports manager at Swedish Professional Football Leagues.
Sweden remains in 23rd place in Europe with a total of 23,750 points for the last five seasons, but can still see the European season 2022/2023 as a success because of two clubs qualified for a group stage. Djurgården was mots successful, but in the end had to see themselves eliminated against Polish Lech Poznan in the Europa Conference League playoffs.
In addition to Djurgården playing in the UEFA Europa Conference League playoffs this year, Malmö FF qualified for the UEFA Europa League group stage this season. AIK reached the playoff for the UEFA Europa Conference League but fell there to Czech Slovacko with a total of 4-0. Sweden’s fourth team in the qualifiers for the European Games, IF Elfsborg, went out in qualifying round two against Norwegian Molde.
Sweden was the best Scandinavian country in the 2022/2023 European club competitions.
Facts UEFA league ranking:
The league ranking is based on the last five seasons of play in Europe. The higher the ranking of a league, the greater the opportunity to include more teams in the European qualifiers or to start the qualifiers at a later stage. Place 15 and above means more teams qualify for the Champions League.
UEFA league rankings March 2023:
- Israel 25,000
- Cyprus 24,475
- Sweden 23,750
- Hungary 20,625
- Romania 20,500
Sweden’s score in the past five years, which is the basis for the total:
2018/2019: 4,125 (Malmö FF advanced from EL group stage – knocked out by Chelsea)
2019/2020: 5,750 (Malmö FF further from EL group stage – knocked out by Wolfsburg)
2020/2021: 2,500 (No team in group stage)
2021/2022: 5,125 (Malmö FF into the Champions League group stage)
2022/2023: 6,250 (Malmö FF and Djurgården to group stage – Djurgården through to playoffs)
