Celtic and Rangers are still recovering from their European disasters this week – and the midweek action leaves Scottish clubs with a long way to go before the Premiership winners automatically regain their Champions League spot.
With Turkish clubs surging a top 10 spot hopes of a top 10 spot are fading – while Scotland faces an uphill battle to move out of 17th position and overtake Greece and Denmark. Scottish sides started on the backfoot this season in their pursuit of a return to the top 10 – having dropped out last season and costing the Premiership champions an automatic stop in the league phase. A massive 9.75 points fell through UEFA’s trap door and out of our five-year tally at the start of the latest European campaign leaving Scotland at 17th in the coefficient table.
If Scotland can’t climb up the rankings it will make it even tougher for Scottish clubs to reach the Champions League league phase and take part in the £40m cash bonanza. Next season, the Scottish title winners will be entered into the Champions League play-off rounds while the runners-up enter at the second qualifying round. Third place will land the club a Europa League second qualifying round place, while fourth enters at the same stage in the Conference League.
But for the 2026/27 campaign, 17th place in the coefficient table only earns the champions a spot in the second qualifying round of the Champions League. As it stands, the runners-up would and third-place team would only enter Europe in the second round of the Conference League.
And with the pressure on to avoid a rocky road to Europe’s elite competition, it has been a nightmare week for both Celtic and Rangers. Celtic got off to a winning start in the Champions League against Slovan Bratislava – with 8 points already added to the pot by Brendan Rodgers’ side – but the heavy loss to Borussia Dortmund added nothing to the overall tally.
Rangers had also made a solid contribution so far. Despite defeat in the Champions League play-off round to Dynamo Kyiv, the first leg draw with the Ukrainian champions coupled with the win over Malmo in the Europa League means Philippe Clement has helped add 2.5 points so far. However, the 4-1 defeat to Lyon is a major reality check and with Manchester United and Tottenham among the upcoming league fixtures a deep run in the competition could prove tough.
Hearts were Scottish football’s saviours as the last-gasp win over Dinamo Minsk in the Conference League – with the Jambos adding two coefficient points to the pot. Kilmarnock and St Mirren added 2.5 and 2 points respectively in their failed bid to reach the league phase of the Europa League and Conference League.
As is stands, Scotland have averaged a coefficient tally of 3.4 this term with the tally at 29.7 so far at this stage – and it looks unlikely to be enough at this rate to close the gap on the higher-ranked nations. Turkey sit in 10th spot and have claimed the automatic Champions League spot for their title winners.
They boast a tally of 36.9 after draws for Fenerbahce and Galatasaray in the Europa League – and with Besiktas and Istanbul Basaksehir still in European competition they have improved chances of adding to their ranking. They are 5.05 points ahead of their closest rivals Norway – and a whopping 7.6 in front of Scotland.
And while that would take a massive turnaround – Scotland’s clubs are struggling to catch the sides immediately in front of them. Greece moved into 15th spot thanks to a win for Olympiacos over Braga and Panathanikos Conference League draw with Borac this week. Denmark have slipped to 16th but are still 0.375 points ahead of Scotland thanks to Midtjylland’s win over Maccabi Tel Aviv racking up the points.
With Scotland’s clubs struggling to catch even the teams immediately above them in the ranking hopes of a return to the top 10 and an automatic Champions League spot are rapidly fading. However, big results are required to avoid dropping into the football wilderness and the dangers of the lower reaches of qualification.