Legia lost 3-1 away to Swedish side Djurgarden, while Jagiellonia scraped a goalless draw at home to Olimpija Ljubljana on Thursday evening.
However, these results did not undermine their strong run in this season's Conference League.
Legia finished seventh, which secured them qualification for the knockout phase, while Jagiellonia narrowly missed out on automatic qualification having finished ninth in the table. Now, the reigning Polish champions will face the Serbian club TSC—who Legia comfortably dispatched 3-0 in October—in the February playoffs.
The competition has not only proved a success for the two clubs but has been beneficial to Poland in the UEFA national ranking. The ranking plays an important role in the bigger picture given that it determines how many teams from a country will compete in Europe.
Currently, the top four are England, Italy, Spain and Germany with these countries boasting the most representatives in the Champions League.
Legia added 2.5 points to the total for their seventh-place finish and another 0.5 points for directly advancing to the 1/8 finals. Jagiellonia added one point for their draw, plus 2 points for their ninth-place finish. As such, Poland have now overtaken Israel and advanced to 17th in the ranking.
The most significant impact on Polish football would be reaching 15th place. This would enable Poland to have two representatives in the Champions League qualifiers and a total of five in European competition.
As things stand, the nations just above them are Switzerland (14th), Scotland (15th) and Denmark (16th). For Poland to make the leap, all depends on Legia and Jagiellonia’s results in Spring, as well as those clubs from the aforementioned nations.
UEFA National Ranking: (14th-19th)
14. Switzerland 33,225 points
15. Scotland 32,500 points
16. Denmark 32,293 points
17. Poland 31,875 points
18. Israel 31,625 points
19. Croatia 26,525 points
