Montenegro is rapidly progressing on the UEFA list: Rushing towards the 4th representative in European competitions

As things stand, Montenegro will soon most likely have four representatives (again) in European club competitions.

All thanks to the great results of our teams this season and the dizzying rise on the UEFA list of club coefficients of national associations.

The passage of Sailors over Dinamo from Tbilisi and Radnički from Kragujevac in the 3rd round of qualification for the League of Conferences, the passage of Dečić AdmiralBet in the 3rd round over Dinamo Batumi, the passage of Budućnost in the 2nd round over Kosovo's Mališeva, brought Montenegro this year's coefficient of 1,833, which not only is it the biggest so far when it comes to European football summers of Montenegrin clubs, but it is currently the third biggest in Europe among about 30 countries whose clubs started qualification from the lowest rounds.

So far, only the Hungarian and Armenian clubs have collected a higher coefficient than the Montenegrin clubs - 1,875 each.

And that's not the end, of course, Budućnost tonight has a chance in the rematch against CSKA 1948 to collect new points for Montenegrin football and advance to the 3rd round of qualification for the LK, where Dečić and Mornar are already - and games with Helsinki await them and, most likely, Pakshi from Hungary.

Club coefficients of national associations are calculated by giving a point for a win, half a point for a draw. The obtained sum is then divided by the number of representatives on the European stage - in the Montenegrin case, it is now three.

So, two wins by Mornar and one draw, one win and two draws by Dečić, one win by Budućnost - brought our teams 5,5 points, which when divided by three gives an excellent coefficient of 1,833.

For comparison, the coefficient of teams from Bosnia and Herzegovina this summer (four representatives) is 0,750, from North Macedonia (three representatives) 0,66, Albania 1,125, Georgia 1,125, Kosovo 1,375...

The final ranking on the UEFA list is obtained when the coefficients from this and the previous four European seasons are added up.

Although the Montenegrin clubs had bad results in the previous four summers (coefficients were 1,625 for the 2020/21 season, 0,750 for the 2021/22 season, 1,000 for the 2022/23 season, 1,333 for the 2022/23 season), this year's - so far coefficient has brought Montenegro a jump in the list of five places.

Instead of the devastating 53rd position (third from the back) from last season, or 54th from two summers ago (only San Marino was weaker then), our clubs collectively now occupy the 48th position.

Montenegro jumped five places this summer and has already overtaken Belarus, Andorra, Wales, North Macedonia and Georgia!

All of this leads to the fact that from next summer - or from the summer of 2026, Montenegro will most likely have four representatives on the European stage again, instead of the three it had in the previous two seasons due to poor results.

The list, however, is not final as long as the European qualifiers continue and until all teams from the lower house of European football have been eliminated in the qualifiers.

Montenegro can still improve, it can also fall back compared to the current 48th position - depending on the further results of ours, as well as clubs from competitor countries.

Only the five last-ranked countries have three representatives each in Europe - until this season they were Montenegro, Macedonia, Andorra, Gibraltar and San Marino.

If our clubs at least keep the current, 48th position, we will get another representative on the European stage.