This week once again showed that Swiss Football teams struggle to perform on an international level. The result is a collapse in the UEFA Club ranking that will have dire consequences for the future.
At the moment, Switzerland is only ranked 21th in the UEFA country ranking. Countries like Norway, Scotland, Serbia, Croatia and Cyprus did overtake Swizerland. The ranking takes into account the performances of the last 5 years on an international club level.
The position of this ranking is the decider how many clubs are allowed to take part in Champions League and Europa League. Since Switzerland was ranked below the 15th place last years, only 4 teams are able to qualify for international competitions, and all of them have to play several qualifying rounds.
The animated chart below shows the score of Switzerland in the UEFA Ranking since 2009:
Switzerland reached its peak 2014, when extraordinary performances of FC Basel were leading them to unseen heights. In some years, the championship winner in Switzerland would even qualify directly to the Champions League.
It seems this times are over now. Ever since 2014, there was a steady decline in the international performances. With FC Basel struggling in the last year, even fail to qualify 2018, the other teams could not compensate.
The next animated chart shows the best 20 teams in the UEFA ranking since 2009, with Switzerland highlighted in red:
Luckily, with FC Basel beating PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League qualifier, there are at least three teams in the group stages with FC Basel, BSC Young Boys and FC Lugano. Lets hope those teams can perform well so Switzerland can gain some ground.
Do to a UEFA reform, if the Swiss do not make it into the top 15, only the champion has a chance to take part in Champions League or Europa League. The other three teams are only able to qualify for the “Europa League 2”, a new competition ranked below Champions League and Europa League, where much less money can be made. Grim prospects, indeed…
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