Improved displays help Irish League regain a fourth Euro spot
A TWEAK in European competition regulations for the 2021-22 season means the Irish League has already won back its lost European place.
Northern Ireland dropped to 52nd place from 55 nations in Uefa’s co-efficient rankings last season and so will send just three teams into European competition next summer. The winners of the 2019-20 Danske Bank Premiership must also enter the four-team qualification round for the Champions League.
The lost place cost the league at least £195k in prize money and will have significant ramifications for the coming season, with the European play-offs expected to be scrapped.
However, a summer of hugely improved results means the league will again have four teams in Europe for the 2021-22 season, meaning just one year, the 202021 campaign, with reduced numbers.
After a summer in which Crusaders, Ballymena United and Cliftonville all progressed through a round of the Europa League, Linfield’s victory over HB Torshavn last Thursday was enough to push the Irish League back up the co-efficient rankings.
Northern Ireland are back up to 51st place, leapfrogging the Faroe Islands. Ballymena, Crusaders and Linfield all secured wins over Faroese teams this summer, key to such a significant swing in co-efficient figures.
Under the current Uefa structures, the pressure would still be on Linfield to secure another bump up the rankings as, for the 2020-21 season, 51st place still receives only three European places; one Champions League and two Europa League spots.
However, there is a significant change from 2021 onwards.
With the advent of a new third-tier European competition, the access list is set for a tweak. In the newly-published 2021-24 list, the nation ranked 51st at the end of the current season WILL be awarded four places.
Because all teams from the nations below Northern Ireland (San Marino, Andorra, Faroe Islands, Kosovo) have already been knocked out of European competition, NI is certain to end the campaign in, at worst, 51st place.
For the 2021-22 season, all three of the Irish League’s Europa League qualifiers will enter the new Europa League 2. The Europa League will be restricted to Europe’s top 15 ranked nations, clubs dropping out of the Champions League and the winners of the previous season’s Europa League 2.