Dinamo's convincing 5:0 victory over Kauno Žalgiris has lifted Croatia to 22nd place on the UEFA rankings, overtaking Ukraine, which is crucial for the Croatian champion's future Champions League qualifiers.
With a big win against Kauno Žalgiris at Maksimir, Dinamo made significant progress towards continuing their European adventure, thereby helping all of Croatian football. The 5:0 result convincingly improved Croatia's position on the UEFA national coefficient rankings.
According to information from the specialized profile Football Meets Data, Croatia, thanks to Dinamo's result, has advanced to 22nd place, overtaking Ukraine. In UEFA competition qualifiers, each win earns one point, which is divided by the number of clubs from that country that started the season.
As Croatia entered Europe with four representatives, Dinamo's victory was worth 0.250 points for the national coefficient, as reported by Sportske novosti. Although goal difference is not relevant for the points, so even a narrow win would have had the same effect, five goals against the Lithuanian champions further brought Dinamo closer to a place in the Champions League play-offs.
The Blues already have a nearly guaranteed passage before the return leg in Lithuania, and in the final qualifying round they face Norwegian side Viking. Meanwhile, Croatia is fighting for a better position on the rankings because 23rd place currently allows the domestic champion to start Champions League qualifiers from the second round, while 24th place would mean starting from the first round.
It is important that, besides Dinamo, Rijeka and Hajduk also continue their European journey. Croatian clubs are also favored by the fact that Ukraine has been left with two representatives after LNZ Cherkasy and Polissya Zhytomyr were eliminated.
Shakhtar, the Ukrainian champion, will not collect additional points in qualifiers this season because they directly secured a spot in the Champions League league phase. Croatia now has a chance to increase the advantage, but that requires good results from all remaining clubs.
Currently ahead of Croatia is Romania, which also has two clubs in European competitions. Every new success of Dinamo, Rijeka, and Hajduk could bring another step up the rankings, which will significantly impact the Croatian champion's future Champions League qualifiers.
At the bottom of the rankings, according to Football Meets Data, Northern Ireland has risen to 50th place, Georgia to 51st, while Luxembourg will finish the season in 52nd position.
The North sings the city the most beautiful ballad 💙
After the match, Dinamo shared the atmosphere from Maksimir on social media with a photo of Luka Stanzl and a message about the fans singing from the North. Later during the night, another post arrived with the traditional night photo of the stadium.
