Ligue 1 Clubs Banking on Europa League Success for European Coefficient Boost

With Paris Saint-Germain returning to UEFA Champions League action on Wednesday in the round of 16 at home to Real Sociedad and Lille OSC also through to the same stage of the UEFA Europa Conference League, France has at least two representatives in the latter stages. However, the story in the UEFA Europa League is different with RC Lens dropping out of the Champions League and Olympique de Marseille only finishing second in their group after falling out of the UCL in the qualifying rounds.

On top of OM, Stade Rennais and Toulouse also finished second which means that Ligue 1 has four clubs in the Europa League knockout round playoffs and arguably the greatest interest in the outcome of these two-legged ties than any other top European league. Having OM, Rennes and TFC advance from their groups as well as Lens — salvaging third place in a tricky group which saw them deprive serial winners Sevilla of a place in their continental competition of choice — is a positive for Le Championnat after years of underwhelming performances in Europe.

In fact, the situation had gotten so bad that the Netherlands started this season ahead of France as the fifth of the top five leagues and it has required a combination of improved French performances and a difficult campaign for Dutch sides for Ligue 1 to have retaken the lead over the Eredivisie. That positivity could be short-lived, though, if France’s four Europa League representatives do not make it past these playoffs with difficult tasks ahead of the quartet — especially Rennes in Milan and Toulouse in Lisbon.

Even Marseille face a bit of an uphill task against a declining Shakhtar side given OM’s recent struggles and the Ukrainians saw off Rennes at this same stage last year in what was a dire knockout playoff round showing for Ligue 1 as FC Nantes and AS Monaco were also sent packing. Realistically, French soccer must be targeting two of four teams advancing in the hope that a third can spring a surprise and squeeze through to boost the country’s coefficient and add to Le Championnat’s chances of bringing home some overdue continental silverware.