Crvena zvezda (foto: www.crvenazvezdafk.com)
In a historic season where five Serbian clubs started in European competitions, the worst results in history followed, which will lead to a significant reduction in the number of Super League clubs in European competitions in the future.
Defeat after defeat! That's the performance of Serbian clubs in this year's European competitions cycle. Points accumulated over the years have been heavily "wasted" in the last two months, meaning Serbia will have fewer representatives in club competitions in Europe in the coming seasons.
Red Star in the Champions League, TSC in the Europa League, and Čukarički in the Conference League suffered defeats against Manchester City, West Ham, and Ferencváros. These losses further harmed the club coefficient needed for next season's European cups.
This season, five clubs participated; Vojvodina and Partizan were eliminated in the Conference League qualifiers, while TSC and Čukarički, after defeats in the play-offs, moved to a lower competition, and Red Star, as champions, directly entered the Champions League group stage.
Serbian clubs in Europe this season have a record of one win, zero draws, and 13 losses, the worst in history. Tomislav Globan, an analyst from Croatia and a professor of sports economics at the University of Zagreb, addressed this topic.
"I believe Serbia's performance of 1-0-12 in the first 13 matches in Europe is the worst start of a country in the history of European cups. It certainly is among the TOP 30 countries, and those below TOP 30 can't even play 13 matches if they register so many losses," Globan wrote.
Countries like Montenegro, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, Finland, and others have earned more points. Turkey utilized the qualifiers and added many points to its coefficient, having three representatives in the group stage.
At the beginning of the group stage in three European competitions, there was no impact. The players fought honorably, but only the result is remembered. It says: 0-0-3 and a goal difference of 3:9 this week. Among the top 20 on the UEFA list, only Serbia didn't earn a point.