Pictured: the Europa League is far preferable to the Conference League in terms of revenue // Photo: cbssports.com
This became known after a recent update of the coefficient table compiled by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). As of February 26, the Moldovan clubs scored 14.625 points in five seasons and lost to Armenia, which now has 15.062 points. This dropped Moldova to 34th place in the ranking and deprived it of a quota for participation in the Europa League.
New ranking
The top four Superleague clubs at the end of the season qualify for European competitions: the champion qualifies for the first round of the Champions League, second place qualifies for the first round of the Europa League (LE), third and fourth places – for the second and first rounds of the Conference League (CL) respectively.
From the 2027/28 season, the second-placed club will participate in the LC instead of the EPL, a lower-status tournament with more modest prize money. It will start from the second round, while the remaining two clubs will start from the first round.
A blow to the budget
The loss of the quota in the LE will affect the budget of the club – vice-champion of Moldova. If this season participation in the first round of this tournament allowed Sheriff to earn €700 thousand, then Zimbru earned 25% less for participation in the second round of the League – €525 thousand.
The prize money for reaching the next stage in both tournaments is identical – €175 thousand each. However, the difference in prize money will increase significantly if the club reaches the group stage. If a club receives €4.31m from UEFA for participation in the UEFA LE (excluding prize money for wins and draws), in the LC – €3.17m, or 27% less.
Moldovan clubs are the beneficiaries of solidarity payments from UEFA, transferred to clubs in case of non-participation in the group stages of European competitions. This year, UEFA will transfer €3.29 million to Super League clubs. Since 10% of this amount will be transferred to Ligue 1 clubs, the eight top division participants will receive €390,000 each. This amount is less even than what is due to a club for participation in the first round of the LC.
|
UEFA national association rankings (as of 26.02.2026) |
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|
|
Association | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | 2025/26 | Points (5 seasons) |
Number of clubs* |
|
1 |
England |
21.000 |
23.000 | 17.375 | 29.464 | 21.902 | 112.741 |
9 |
|
2 |
Italy |
15.714 |
22.357 | 21.000 | 21.875 | 16.857 | 97.803 |
7 |
|
3 |
Spain |
18.428 |
16.571 | 16.062 | 23.892 | 17.031 | 91.984 |
8 |
|
|
||||||||
|
24 |
Romania |
2.250 |
6.250 | 3.250 | 7.750 | 5.750 | 25.250 |
4 |
|
25 |
Ukraine |
4.200 |
5.700 | 4.100 | 3.600 | 6.812 | 24.412 |
4 |
|
33 |
Armenia |
1.875 |
2.375 | 2.250 | 4.375 | 4.187 | 15.062 |
4 |
|
34 |
MOLDOVA |
5.250 |
3.750 | 2.000 | 2.125 | 1.500 | 14.625 |
4 |
|
35 |
Finland |
3.750 |
2.625 | 1.750 | 2.250 | 3.625 | 14.000 |
4 |
| * Number of clubs that received quotas from UEFA and national associations for participation in European competitions | ||||||||
