Ekstraklasa boom: Polish clubs thriving in UEFA Conference League
Friday, January 16, 2026
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The UEFA Conference League has given more clubs more opportunities to compete on the European stage – nowhere more so than in Poland, whose teams' performances have helped boost their association club coefficient ranking.
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One of the biggest beneficiaries of the UEFA Conference League since it was introduced for the 2021/22 season is undoubtedly Poland. Lech Poznań blazed a trail by reaching the quarter-finals in 2022/23, before two Polish Ekstraklasa teams – Legia Warszawa and Jagiellonia Białystok – achieved the feat last season. The latter's Afimico Pululu ended the season as the competition's leading goalscorer, a first in any UEFA club competition for a player representing a Polish club.
This season, four Polish sides competed in the league phase: Raków Częstochowa sealed progress with a game to spare, while Jagiellonia and Lech Poznań confirmed their respective qualifications for the knockout phase play-offs on Matchday 6. Legia were the only Polish side eliminated after the league phase, falling just one point short of advancing.
Collective growth
The reward for progress in UEFA club competitions goes beyond the dream of silverware and the prize money on offer. An added benefit is improving Poland's association club coefficient, which could result in an additional UEFA Champions League spot for next season.
Poland currently lead the 2025/26 men's association club coefficient rankings, which gives them a great chance of securing one of the two European Performance Spots. These are allocated to the two associations with the best collective performance by their clubs at the end of the season. Each association will receive one automatic place in the league phase of the 2026/27 UEFA Champions League for the club ranked next-best in their domestic league, behind any clubs that have already directly qualified for the league phase.
European dreams
It might come as a surprise to some that Poland's representatives have pushed them into the top two of the club coefficient rankings, but Legia owner Dariusz Mioduski believes the country's clubs can continue to perform both this season and into the future, saying: "We might never be one of the four or five best leagues in Europe, but I do think we have potential to be in the top ten."
Sustained success would improve Poland’s ranking in the UEFA access list, which uses coefficients from the past five seasons to determine how many teams and from which national associations gain direct entry into the league phases of our men’s club competitions. "Reaching the top ten [in the access list] would allow us to have a team in the league phase of the Champions League without qualifiers," added Mioduski. "That should be our goal, and I hope that within three years we can realise this and then maintain that position."
For Mioduski, Polish clubs should even have ambitions of European silverware: "The Conference League allows us to earn money and to build our ranking. One day, why not dream about a Polish team winning this competition? Of course, the ambition of top Polish teams should also be to regularly play and succeed in the Europa League and Champions League."
With three Polish sides still in the running for the Conference League, it’s all still to play for.