Looking good for the League of Ireland UEFA coefficient

The UEFA European play-offs for clubs take place this week with two League of Ireland clubs still standing - Shamrock Rovers in the Europa League play-off and St. Patrick’s Athletic in the Conference League play-off. It all makes positive reading for us coefficient nerds!

The Hoops have already guaranteed themselves group stage football (or league stage football as it is called in the revamped UEFA competitions). If the Hoops win their play-off against Greek Champions PAOK, then they will play in the league stage of the Europa League.

Defeat will see them drop directly into the league stage of the Conference League. St. Patrick’s Athletic can also secure league stage football if they can beat Istanbul Basaksehir in the Conference League play-off.

FAI Cup winners ranking benefit

It is worth noting that the prize for Ireland with positive results in this 2024/25 European season should the country ranking be 33 or higher is a place in the Europa League first qualifying round for the 2025 FAI Cup winners in the 2026/27 European campaign. That would provide a fall back into the Conference League second round should that club lose the first round and so guarantees the cup winners two rounds in Europe and a minimum €700,000 in prize money. 

Ireland’s current ranking meant that FAI Cup winners St. Patrick’s Athletic got a bye and were placed directly in the second qualifying round of the Conference League where if they had lost they would have earned the minimum €525,000.

As it stands it has been a lucrative run with Pat’s earning a minimum €1.275m if they are eliminated at this play-off stage.

A reminder that while four LOI sides entered Europe, Derry City fell at the first hurdle and Shelbourne got through one round before exiting but all have added vital points to Ireland’s coefficient tally.

Coefficient system

The coefficient is calculated in the qualifying rounds (including play-off rounds) by adding up the results for each team, with every match win earning one point and a draw is worth half a point.

In the group stages, those points are doubled so Shamrock Rovers’ two draws in the Europa Conference League group stage in 2022 were worth the equivalent of two wins in the qualifiers.

The total is then divided by the number of clubs participating from that country (four clubs from the League of Ireland). The overall country league ranking is based on adding up the last five season’s coefficients.

Coefficient calculation for 2024/25 season so far

Shamrock Rovers have two wins and a draw (2.5 in total) and have a minimum eight more matches to play (ten if they make the league stage of the Europa League).

St. Patrick’s Athletic have yet to lose a game, winning three and drawing one (3.5 in total), with at least two more matches (eight if they make the league stage of the Conference League)

Shelbourne got one win and two draws (2 points) while Derry City got one win (and hence one point) en-route to their early European elimination at the hands of “a pub team from Gibraltar”.

So overall the League of Ireland earned 9 points giving an average coefficient of 2.25 [9/4].

Overall five year coefficient

The overall UEFA coefficient is based on five years of results. Six seasons ago the LOI clubs earned only 1.25 and so that score will be discounted this year replaced by this season’s coefficient of at least 2.25. 

        Season           Points             Ranking that season           Five year ranking

1. 2024/25           2.25*                22*                                           33*
2. 2023/24           1.5                   37                                            35
3. 2022/23           3.375               31                                            36
4. 2021/22           2.875               32                                            40
5. 2020/21           1.875               34                                            37
6. 2019/20           1.25                 44                                            42
7. 2018/19           1.0                   47                                            37
8. 2017/18           1.125               42                                            39

Five year total        11.875*

*current points/ranking as per 20 August 2024

Ireland are currently ranked 22nd for this season and over the crucial five year period are 33^rd overall in Europe with two LOI teams still in competition. Of the countries ranked below Ireland, all bar two have only one team (or none) left in Europe. Like Ireland, Armenia (34^th) and Bosnia (39^th) still have two teams in Europe.

The two teams ranked just above Ireland are Moldova (31^st) and Kosovo (32^nd) and both only have one team left in Europe.

The above all relates to the UEFA country coefficients. There is also a calculation for UEFA club ranking which is used for seeding of clubs in the UEFA draws – that is a topic for another day!

[Updated 21/08/24 to note that the 2025 FAI Cup winners entry competition in the 2026/27 European campaign will be based on rankings from this current 2024/25 European season]

Who are Shamrock Rovers’ Europa League play-off opponents PAOK? - https://t.co/94rjArr8tjhttps://t.co/oTbGKuaOCk

— extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) August 20, 2024