West Ham United's Europa Conference League semi-final first leg win over AZ Alkmaar will be being celebrated by Ligue 1 sides ahead of the new Champions League format.
Thursday night sees the Hammers travel to the AFAS Stadion for the second leg hoping to clinch victory and a place in the final in Prague next month, currently leading the match 2-1 after the first leg.
Regardless of how the second leg fares, West Ham’s first leg win will be one that is heavily celebrated by clubs in Ligue 1 ahead of the reformat of the UEFA Champions League for the 2024/25 season.
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Ahead of the semi-finals taking place, a report from RMC (published by Get French Football News), said that the match would determine UEFA’s league rankings, with no French clubs in the semi-finals of either the Champions League, Europa League or Europa Conference League this season.
The report stated that in order for the Netherlands to climb above France in the rankings from sixth to fifth, Alkmaar had to win both legs of their semi-final clash and the final of the competition to help the Netherlands break into Europe’s top five-rated countries domestically.
Alkmaar’s defeat and the Netherlands not climbing up to fifth means that France will remain in fifth spot, which is good news for them ahead of the new format in the Champions League, starting the season after next.
The new format will see clubs in the top five leagues given four spots each for the Champions League, while sixth only get three, with only two of those being direct.
Based on current league positions, it would mean that Paris Saint-Germain, Lens, Marseille and Monaco would all qualify for the Champions League, if the new format was starting next season instead. However, LOSC Lille, Stade Rennais, and Olympique Lyonnais can all still finish in the top four with three games to go.
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