Linfield have been doing the Irish League’s heavy lifting in European competition according to new figures released by the Swiss Football Data website.
A breakdown of Northern Ireland’s coefficient, based on performances in Europe over the past five years, shows that the Blues have contributed 35.6 percent of our total points tally.
Linfield have provided 2.9 points - or 35.6 percent of the overall tally - of Northern Ireland’s 8.083 points coefficient, while Coleraine contributed 1.4 points (17.5 percent).
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The Blues have progressed in four of their previous five years in European competition, most notably reaching the group play-off round of the Europa League in 2019.
David Healy’s men recorded a famous 3-2 win over Qarabag at Windsor Park only to exit the competition on away goals after a 2-1 defeat in Azerbaijan.
Linfield, who lifted a fourth straight league title in April, will compete in next season’s Champions League with the draw for the first qualifying round on June 14.
Coleraine have featured in Europe in four of the previous five years and progressed to the third qualifying round of the Europa League in 2020 thanks to wins over La Fiorita and Maribor.
Remarkably, Larne are third on Northern Ireland's updated coefficient list despite the Inver Park club making its debut in UEFA competition in last season’s Europa Conference League.
Tiernan Lynch’s men reached the third qualifying round and won four of their six ties to contribute 1.1 coefficient points, or 13.9 percent of the Northern Ireland total.
Crusaders are fourth with 0.9 points (10.8 percent) while Glentoran have contributed 0.8 points (9.8 percent) over the past five years.
The remaining point of Northern Ireland’s total coefficient was contributed by Cliftonville (0.4 points), Ballymena United (0.4 points) and Glenavon (0.2 points).
The full breakdown, according to the Swiss Football Data website, is as follows…
NI's TOTAL COEFFICIENT POINTS - 8.083
- LINFIELD - 2.9 (35.6 percent)
- COLERAINE - 1.4 (17.5 percent)
- LARNE - 1.1 (13.9 percent)
- CRUSADERS - 0.9 (10.8 percent)
- GLENTORAN - 0.8 (9.8 percent)
- CLIFTONVILLE - 0.4 (4.6 percent)
- BALLYMENA UNITED - 0.4 (4.6 percent)
- GLENAVON - 0.2 (3.1 percent)
The Irish League's participants in European competition this summer are Linfield, who are entered in the Champions League, and Cliftonville, Crusaders and Larne who will all play in the Europa Conference League.
UEFA coefficients are based on the performance of clubs in the European Cups during a five year period.
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