The draws begin next week, with the QR1 draw on Tuesday 16 June and the QR2 draw the following day, on Wednesday 17 June.

Both Motherwell and Hibs will be in Wednesday’s draw, but on opposite sides of the QR2 seeding line. This is based on club coefficient, not on where they finished in the Scottish Premiership last season.

Motherwell’s five-year club coefficient is 1.500, which is lower than 20% of Scotland’s association coefficient (6.41). That means Motherwell use the higher figure, 6.41, for seeding purposes. Hibernian’s own five-year club coefficient is 7.0, which is higher than 20% of Scotland’s coefficient, so Hibs use their own coefficient.

Being seeded in QR2 is an obvious advantage for Hibs, as it should give them a more favourable tie than Motherwell. The trade off is that Hibs would be guaranteed to be unseeded in QR3 if they progress, whereas Motherwell could be seeded.

Motherwell’s position is slightly more complicated. They will definitely be unseeded in QR2, but could end up on the seeded side of the QR3 draw depending on who they eliminate. That is explained in more detail in the QR3 section below.

Qualifying Round Two (QR2)

The graphics below show the potential QR2 opponents for both Scottish clubs, as well as the prize money at stake for progression or elimination.

Teams listed without a letter after their name enter the competition in QR2, so they are confirmed as potential opponents.

Where a team has a W or L after their name, it means they enter in an earlier round in either the Europa League or the Conference League. For example, the QR2 draw may contain “winner of RFS v team X” rather than simply RFS - because RFS have a Conference QR1 tie to win first.

Similarly the “loser of the tie involving Vojvodina” assumes that Vojvodina lose their Europa League QR1 tie, but they could win this and so it would be the team that they beat that features as a Conference League QR2 opponent for Hibs instead. The missing potential opponent in those cases will be known after the QR1 draw, which takes place next Tuesday, the day before the QR2 draw

Motherwell - QR2

Unseeded Motherwell’s list of potential seeded opponents, that will be narrowed down to five teams next Wednesday. For each tie, the first team drawn is at home in the first leg - seeding doesn’t matter.

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The BBC screened the final live in 1994, but in every other season from 1992/93 until 2015 it was free on ITV, before BT Sport, and latterly TNT Sports, continued making it free for the next decade. Now, the cheapest legal UK access is via an HBO Max subscription, which starts at £4.99 per month. HBO Max is available at no extra cost to Sky Sports subscribers.

A paywalled final is likely to be the case next season too, as 2026/27 is the final season of TNT Sports’ current UK rights cycle. From 2027/28, Paramount+ has the rights to the Champions League, while the Europa League and Conference League will move to Sky Sports. It remains to be seen whether they will continue TNT’s paywalling of the finals or revert to making them free to all.

If Arsenal win the trophy, it will be back-to-back new winners of the Champions League, something that has not happened since 1993. It would also be just the seventh such streak in the history of Europe’s top club competition.

Three English Winners

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As someone who runs a website passionately supporting Scottish teams in Europe, I do not particularly enjoy being reminded of his previous honour: the 2022 Europa League final victory on penalties in Seville, after a 1-1 draw with Rangers.

Before Glasner, Palace had never won a major trophy in their 120-year history. He leaves the club having secured three pieces of silverware in 12 months: the FA Cup, Community Shield and Conference League. A high calibre out-of-work manager. I wonder if he fancies a job in Scotland…

Debut Season Winners

Crystal Palace won the Conference League at the first attempt, joining a prestigious list of 12 clubs. That list includes Celtic, who won the European Cup at the first time of asking in 1967.

Prior to the introduction of the Conference League in 2021, only seven clubs had ever won a UEFA competition in their first season in that tournament.

What makes Palace’s victory so unique, is they are not just winning the trophy after their first season in the Conference League, it’s their first ever season in UEFA competition. They join a select group of eight* clubs to have achieved that feat, and the first since KV Mechelen in 1988.

Even reaching a final in a first European campaign is rare. Palace are the first since Alavés in 2001 and just the 15th club ever to do so.

Consecutive New Winners

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Best Case Scenarios

Celtic

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The longest article ever written for the website was published last week; “The UEFA qualifiers” covers all the details for all Scottish teams.

This is the fifth of five qualification articles this week, covering everything you could possibly want to know about Hibs in Europe:

• Entry point and overall route through qualifiers

• Potential opponents lying in wait in the qualifiers

• ‘Best’ and ‘worst’ routes through qualifiers

• Minimum earnings depending on stage of elimination.

• Potential league phase opponents

• Next summer’s much worse entry points

Qualifying Stat: Hibernian have won 7/14 ‘qualifying’ ties in UEFA competition across 7 separate seasons in their history - all since 2010.

Hibernian’s Entry Point

Hibs have finished fifth in the league for the third time this century, meaning they will have European football in consecutive seasons for the 10th time in their history, and the first since 2006.

That includes the Intertoto Cup, so if we exclude that then this will be the first time Hibs have played in major European competition in back-to-back seasons since the 1970s, when they had their best period of five consecutive seasons between 1972 and 1977.

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The longest article ever written for the website was published last week; “The UEFA qualifiers” covers all the details for all Scottish teams.

This is the fourth of five articles this week, covering everything you could possibly want to know about Motherwell in Europe:

• Entry point and overall route through qualifiers

• Potential opponents lying in wait in the qualifiers

• ‘Best’ and ‘worst’ routes through qualifiers

• Minimum earnings depending on stage of elimination.

• Potential league phase opponents

• Next summer’s much worse entry points

Qualifying Stat: Motherwell have won 7/16 ‘qualifying’ ties in UEFA competition across 9 separate seasons in their history.

Motherwell’s Entry Point

Motherwell have finished fourth in the league for the first time this century, meaning European football will return to Fir Park after a four year absence.

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A Dunfermline win in the Scottish Cup final tomorrow (Saturday) would earn the Pars Scotland’s third European entry point - the third qualifying round of the Europa League. A Celtic victory would hand that entry point to Rangers, and also reward Hibs with Scotland’s fifth European spot.

If Dunfermline win the Scottish Cup, Hibs miss out on Europe and Rangers enter Conference League qualifying.

There are so many permutations for our clubs in Europe this summer. Scotland could end up with as many as four clubs in the Conference League phase at the same time. It’s unlikely, but we could also have two in the Champions League. Three in the Europa League is also possible, and arguably the optimum outcome from a coefficient-points perspective.

The longest article ever written for the website was published last week; “The UEFA qualifiers” covers all the details for all Scottish teams.

This is the third of five articles this week, covering everything you could possibly want to know about Rangers in Europe:

• Entry point and overall route through qualifiers

• Potential opponents lying in wait in the qualifiers

• ‘Best’ and ‘worst’ routes through qualifiers

• Minimum earnings in each competition

• Potential league phase opponents

• Next summer’s much worse entry points

Qualifying Stat: Rangers have won of 39/51 ‘qualifying’ ties in UEFA competition across 31 separate seasons in their history. Excluding clubs with two or fewer qualifying ties, Rangers have the best qualifying-tie win percentage in the country: 76.5%, ahead of Celtic on 75.9% and Kilmarnock on 60%.

Rangers’ Entry Point

Rangers have finished third in the league for the fourth time since 2015, including in the Championship, meaning there will be no Champions League football next season.

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Article updated 8pm 20/05: correcting error in Scottish managers graphic

Scotland’s John McGinn put in a captain’s performance for Aston Villa 13 days ago in the Europa League Semi Final, scoring two superb goals against Nottingham Forest to secure Aston Villa’s place in the UEFA Europa League Final in Istanbul. Tonight, he will join a long list of Scots who have played in European finals over the past 60 years.

The Scots have a rich history in UEFA competition, and this includes finals. The Scots have scored in finals, won finals as captain, won finals as manager and, on a few rare nights, supplied an entire Scottish XI in a UEFA Final.

This article is a comprehensive history of Scotsmen in European competition, it covers the Scots that have played in finals, scored in finals, managed in finals, and much more. If you’re not yet a subscriber, please take out a 7-day free trial to read over 350 articles before deciding if you think 50p per week represents good value.

Semi-Final Brace List

McGinn’s double in a Semi-Final is a pretty rare event; he’s the first Scotsman to score two at this stage of UEFA competition since Mark McGhee for Aberdeen in 1983, when the Dons cruised to a 5-1 first leg victory over Belgium’s Waterschei.

Only five Scotsmen have achieved the feat, but remarkably from the five Semi-Final double goalscorers, only three of them were enough to help their team reach the final!

Ian McMillan’s two goals for Rangers in 1960 proved in vain, as Eintracht Frankfurt eliminated the Gers 12-4 on aggregate. To this day, that remains the highest scoring European Cup/Champions League Semi-Final tie in history.

Similarly, Stevie Chalmers scored two for Celtic in 1964, as it looked like Celtic were cruising to their first European final with a 3-0 1st leg win. However the Hoops would lose the return leg 4-0, which was the fifth occurrence of a side being eliminated from Europe after winning the first leg by 3 goals. This has only happened 65 times in total in UEFA run competitions - most recently to Bodø/Glimt - who lost 5-0 in Portugal after beating Sporting 3-0 in Norway earlier this season.

Scots in UEFA Finals

Two weeks ago, I suffered from a case of ‘premature posting’ on my social media pages. As John McGinn scored to secure Villa’s progression to the final, I thought I’d count how often a Scotsman has reached a European final. In my haste, I failed to select a few substitute nationality columns and so the number posted on social media is slightly out. However, the correct numbers are all discussed in full in this article.

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A Dunfermline win in the Scottish Cup final next Saturday afternoon would earn them Scotland’s 3rd European entry point - the third qualifying round of the Europa League. A Celtic victory would hand that entry point to Rangers and also reward Hibs with Scotland’s fifth European spot.

If Dunfermline win the Scottish Cup then Hibs don’t enter Europe and Rangers enter in Conference League qualifiers.

There are so many permutations for our clubs in Europe this summer. Scotland could end up with as many as four clubs in the Conference League phase at the same time. It’s unlikely, but we could also have two in the Champions league. Three in the Europa League is also possible, and arguably the optimum outcome from a coefficient-points perspective.

The longest article ever written for the website was published last week: ‘The UEFA Qualifiers’ covers all the details for all Scottish teams.

The current article is the second of five this week, after Hearts’ article yesterday, containing all the information you could possibly want for the Premiership winners, Celtic, covering:

• Entry points

• Potential play-off opponents; both confirmed and unconfirmed

• Potential league phase opponents; UCL & EL

• Minimum earnings in each competition

• Next summer’s much worse entry points

Entry Point

For Celtic, as Champions their European route is the simplest of all five entrants; win one playoff tie = Champions League phase. Lose the tie and it’s a second consecutive year in the Europa League phase for the Hoops (no further qualifiers needed.)

UEFA typically doesn’t allow Champions League branding in the stadium nor the official anthem to be played in any of the rounds prior to the final playoff round, and so Celtic Park is the only Scottish stadium guaranteed to see and hear this in 2026/27.

Winning the league has markedly improved Celtic’s minimum UEFA earnings next season (from at least €1m to at over €13m), while their chances of reaching the Champions League have substantially increased - given they now have just one tie as a seeded side, rather than potentially three ties through the tougher league path.

Celtic are the only one of Scotland’s five entrants that are guaranteed not to be playing in the Conference League next season.

The “Champions path” of Champions League qualification is preferable, and not just because it means you’ve won your league. Firstly there are five league phase spots via this route, compared to just two in the “league path”. This means there are more seeded teams in the playoff round, and so an increased chance of facing a theoretical ‘weaker’ unseeded opponent. There’s also only one tie to play, whereas Scotland’s runners-up Hearts have three ties; although this will get worse for the Champions next summer.

Furthermore, the calibre of teams is generally lower in the Champions path than the league path. While Celtic will face a fellow champion of a non-top 10 league - and so a tie against any league champion will be difficult - they avoid the runners-up from countries like Portugal, Belgium and Turkey as well as the 4th team in France or 3rd in the Netherlands. You’d rather face Viking Stavanger or Omonia Nicosia than Lyon or Sporting Lisbon.

Although Celtic’s own club coefficient is lower than they would like at 58th in Europe, it is still enough to fall on the seeded side of the play-off draw for the second consecutive year. This means they avoid the teams with the highest coefficient and thus the most recent European experience.

However being seeded won’t necessarily mean the ‘easiest’ opponent as, for example, the champions of Slovakia (Slovan Bratislava) are a seeded team that Celtic therefore cannot face, but the Champions of Sweden (Mjallby), Switzerland (Thun), Denmark (AGF) and Norway (Viking Stavanger) would all be possible unseeded opponents that could prove tricky opposition.

Potential Play-off Opponents

The following graphic shows where the 40+ Champions across Europe will be seeded, as all leagues currently stand. This excludes the Champions of the top 10 leagues, as they automatically qualify for the Champions League. From this list, we can see the potential opponents that lie in wait for the Scottish Champions.

The graphic shows the four qualifying rounds for the “Champions path”, from QR1 to the playoff, and in which round the Champion of each country enters.

Round entered in is based on country coefficient, while seeded status within each round is based on club coefficient.

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A Dunfermline win in the Scottish Cup final next Saturday afternoon woud earn them Scotland’s 3rd European entry point - the third qualifying round of the Europa League. A Celtic victory would hand that entry point to Rangers, and also reward Hibs with Scotland’s fifth European spot.

If Dunfermline win the Scottish Cup then Hibs don’t enter Europe and Rangers enter in Conference League qualifiers.

There are so many permutations for our clubs in Europe this summer. Scotland could end up with as many as four clubs in the Conference League phase at the same time. It’s unlikely, but we could also have two in the Champions league. Three in the Europa League is also possible, and arguably the optimum outcome from a coefficient-points perspective.

The longest article ever written for the website was published last week; “The UEFA qualifiers” covers all the details for all Scottish teams.

The current article is the first of five this week, containing all the information you could possibly want for the Premiership runners-up, Hearts, covering:

• Entry point and overall route through qualifiers

• Potential opponents lying in wait in the qualifiers

• ‘Best’ and ‘worst’ routes through qualifiers

• Minimum earnings in each competition

• Potential league phase opponents

• Next summer’s much worse entry points

Entry Point

By securing a top two finish, Hearts will return to Champions League qualifiers for the first time since the 2006/07 season, when they finished second ahead of Rangers in 2005/06. Back then, Hearts defeated Široki Brijeg of Bosnia thanks to a thumping 3-0 home win at Murrayfield in front of 28,000 fans, before a 5-1 aggregate hammering at the hands of AEK Athens. Their European campaign was then ended that year at the hands of Sparta Prague in the first round of the UEFA Cup.

UEFA typically doesn’t allow Champions League branding in the stadium, or the official anthem to be played, until the final play-off round, so we are only guaranteed to see and hear this at Tynecastle if the Jambos win two Champions League qualifying rounds. Rangers managed this last season under Russell Martin, beating Panathinaikos and Viktoria Plzen before suffering a doing at the hands of Belgian runners-up Club Brugge.

No Scottish team outside Rangers and Celtic has ever reached a league phase/group stage of European competition by winning three qualifying ties, and so it will be a huge ask for Hearts to reach the Champions League. However, such are the nuances of UEFA’s competitions, Hearts might still be able to enjoy their best European campaign since 1989 by only winning one tie.

Hearts’ Route Through Qualifiers

By finishing second, although they are guaranteed Champions League qualifiers, there still remain four possible final outcomes - including total European elimination - and several routes through each of the competitions.

The important thing for Hearts is if they win any tie, in any competition, it will ultimately result in league phase football. Total elimination is only possible if they lose three consecutive ties.

For example:

• if Hearts win Champions League QR2 - they are guaranteed at least Europa League phase football

  • because the losers in UCL QR3 in the main path drop straight into the Europa League phase.

• If Hearts instead lose UCL QR2, but then win Europa League QR3 - they are guaranteed at least Conference League phase football

  • because the losers in the Europa league play-off drop straight into the Conference League phase.

Hearts’ Potential Opponents

After missing out on the title on the final day of the season Hearts now enter in the “league path” of qualifiers, in QR2. Unlike the Champions Path, there are significantly fewer potential opponents, so we are able to say with more certainty who Hearts’ potential opponents could be in QR2, and their likely opponents in the two subsequent rounds.

But first, an explainer on Europa league ‘rebalancing’ which could have a direct impact on Hearts.

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When we could end up with as many as four clubs in the Conference League phase at the same time, there are lots of interesting permutations to consider. This article contains all the information you could possibly want for each team, including all of their potential routes through qualifiers, the prize money on offer, the potential opponents lying in wait and the key dates this summer.

The article is broken down by club, with four sections for each: entry point, route through qualifiers, potential opponents and prize money

Each club has a summary graphic, before explaining in more detail. The article concludes with a reminder of how bleak the entry points will be next summer, and what is required to ‘fix’ this.

HEARTS

ENTRY POINT

By securing a top two finish, Hearts will return to Champions League qualifiers for the first time since the 2006/07 season, when they finished second ahead of Rangers in 2005/06. Back then, Hearts defeated Široki Brijeg of Bosnia thanks to a thumping 3-0 home win at Murrayfield in front of 28,000 fans, before a 5-1 aggregate hammering at the hands of AEK Athens. Their European campaign was then ended that year at the hands of Sparta Prague in the first round of the UEFA Cup.

UEFA typically doesn’t allow Champions League branding in the stadium nor the official anthem to be played in any of the rounds prior to the final playoff round, so we are only guaranteed to see and hear this at Tynecastle if the Jambos win the league. As Champions, they would enter in the Champions League playoff round, and if they win that tie they reach the UCL phase. If they lose, they drop directly into the Europa League phase (no qualifiers needed.)

If Hearts are runners-up, then they’ll have to do as Rangers did last season and win two qualifying ties to reach the playoff round, if we’re going to see the big baw being bounced about on the centre circle at Tynecastle while the anthem blasts through the tannoy.

No Scottish team outside Rangers and Celtic has ever reached a league phase/group stage of European competition by winning three qualifying ties, and so it will be a huge ask for Hearts to reach the Champions League if they are the Scottish runners-up. However, such are the nuances of UEFA’s competitions, Hearts might still be able to enjoy their best European campaign since 1989 by only winning one tie - regardless of their Premiership finish.

HEARTS’ ROUTE THROUGH QUALIFIERS

If Hearts finish 1st, it’s simple: win one tie = Champions League phase. Lose the tie and it’s Europa League phase.

However if Hearts finish 2nd, it’s more complicated. There are four final outcomes - including total European elimination - and several routes through each of the competitions.

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STATE OF PLAY

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WHAT DO RANGERS NEED?

After Shakhtar’s second leg 2-2 draw tonight away to AZ Alkmaar, the situation for Rangers has become more clear.

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When the Champions League winner has already qualified for the next season’s competition through their own domestic league, an automatic slot is vacated. Previously, this would go to the nation ranked 11th in UEFA’s country coefficient ranking, but it was altered meaning any spare entry ticket would instead go to the highest ranked champion in Champions League qualifiers.

The word ‘champion’ is important - as it means a team with a high club coefficient (like Rangers) cannot benefit from this if they are not the champions of their domestic league. That’s because the Champions have to play qualifiers, and so the team that finished 2nd or lower cannot ‘leapfrog’ the team that finished 1st and proceed straight into the Champions League phase.

For Rangers this season - and potentially Celtic in future seasons - this means that no matter how low Scotland’s coefficient drops, there always remains a prospect of automatic Champions League qualification for the Scottish Champions. Scotland are currently ranked a horrifically low 18th in the country coefficient rankings, in case you had forgotten.

THIS SEASON - STILL A CHANCE

Bodø/Glimt finishing 2nd in the Norwegian Eliteserien was good news for Rangers. Due to the aforementioned “no leapfrogging” rule, it meant that even though Bodø overtook Rangers in UEFA’s club coefficient ranking (they are 32nd and Rangers are 37th) - it didn’t matter. They didn’t win the Norwegian league and so they are out of the running for any automatic Champions League place that may become available.

However, Bodø weren’t the only challengers to Rangers’ impressive club coefficient. As I told back in January, Olympiakos progression in the Champions League meant they had earned enough coefficient point to march past Rangers and into 34th in the rankings.

What that meant was that for Rangers to benefit from any vacated Champions League spot, not only did they have to win the Scottish Premiership, but they had to hope that Olympiakos didn’t win the Greek Super League. This looked ominous at the time, but after Olympiakos were beaten at home by former Hearts left back James Penrice’s AEK Athens last week, they slipped five points off the pace.

The Greek league has a relatively new split format where the league splits after 26 matches, and then the top four play each other home and away for a total of 32 matches. This means that with 27 matches played, there are now only five matches remaining for the title challenging group. Five points in five matches may seem a lot of ground to make up, but it is absolutely doable given Olympiakos still have to play home and away to both PAOK and Cyriel Dessers’ Panathinaikos, before ending the season away to current leaders AEK.

So Olympiakos are down, but not out yet. Keep an eye on them, but of course, they aren’t the only obstacle in Rangers’ way.

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Scotland will finish the season 18th in UEFA rankings, a stark decline from the 9th place we held just three years ago!

The official confirmation has been a long time coming - Celtic would have had to win every match en route to the Europa League final to keep us in with a chance of finishing 15th. Even if they had managed that almost impossible feat, it still might not have been enough. We would still be dependent on the clubs from the nations above us dropping out.

This will be the biggest drop in Scotland’s ranking since 2012, which will have a monumental impact on the team’s European entry points.

Long term supporters of my work will know that this had been in the post for several years now. I’ve discussed it in length on this website, featured in the Herald, on the BBC website and live on the BBC evening news earlier this season, warning of the impending drop.

Now it’s officially confirmed though, we can finally state for certain what this means for our clubs:

THE END OF THIS SEASON

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Scottish European League Phase Matches counter 2025/26 = 
22/22 matches played: 4 wins + 5 draw + 13 losses

An ultimately disappointing European league phase campaign for the Scottish sides came to an end on Thursday evening - salvaged somewhat by the fact Celtic progressed to the knockout round with a routine 4-2 victory over hapless Utrecht.

The Celts finished 21st which is within the unseeded knockout spots (17th-24th); meaning their first leg against 11th placed Stuttgart will take place in Glasgow on 19th February. The Germans finished in a seeded position (9th-16th) and so receive the advantage of hosting the second leg at home the following week. The same is true for the last 16; should Celtic progress - they will be unseeded and so drawn (on 27th Feb) to face one of two seeded top eight teams; either Porto or Braga, with the 1st leg at home on 12th March & 2nd leg away on 19th March.

Celtic were just 2 points away from a seeded 16th spot and so securing an additional victory, or converting a couple of draws to wins, could have been crucial. The hoops were five points away from a top 8 spot and skipping the knockout round altogether, which would have required a stellar campaign.

Last season’s Celtic team may have fancied their chances at that, however progression in any form for this year’s side is still commendable. This is especially true given the likes of Young Boys, Sturm Graz, Feyenoord, Basel, Salzburg and Rangers were all eliminated. The quality in the Europa League is obviously higher than the Scottish Premiership and so given Celtic’s patchy domestic form this season, the fans will be pleased to see them safely into the knockout round - something which did not seem likely before Martin O’Neill returned.

For city rivals Rangers, they followed up last season’s impressive 8th place finish with a hugely disappointing 32nd, after losing 6 of 8 matches. This time last year, Rangers conceded a stoppage time goal at Old Trafford to end the longest unbeaten away run in Europe by any Scottish team ever (7 matches). This year, the defeat in Porto was their sixth consecutive away European defeat and their 12th consecutive away European match without keeping a clean sheet. Both of these are new and unwanted club records for the Gers.

Rangers’ joined Aberdeen in facing league phase elimination, after Dundee United and Hibs both fell in the qualifiers. With the introduction of the Conference League, any season in which only one Scottish team does well in Europe will see us struggle to keep pace with our rivals, as we continue to tumble down UEFA’s rankings (from 9th to 18th in just four seasons!)

The rest of this article provides a detailed breakdown of the prize money and coefficient points earned by all Scottish clubs, as well as our place in this year’s UEFA rankings. I’ll also look ahead to next season, looking at the impact of Rangers’ Europa league final run dropping off our total.

THIS SEASON’S COEFFICIENT

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Scottish European League Phase Matches counter 2025/26 = 
20/22 matches played: 3 wins + 5 draw + 12 losses

After adding 0.6 points to Scotland’s coefficient last week, a similar return this week would be a great end to what has been a very poor campaign from the Scottish sides.

Celtic almost certainly need a victory to progress, while already eliminated Rangers may need to avoid defeat to add important club coefficient points to keep them at the top of that coefficient table.

This article explains:

• Celtic’s progression permutations

  • What next if they progress?

• Rangers’ club coefficient

  • What results to look out for?

• UEFA earnings

  • How much can they add this week

• Scotland’s Coefficient next season

  • Is reclaiming a top 15 spot likely?

CELTIC’S PERMUTATIONS

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Scottish European League Phase Matches counter 2025/26 = 
20/22 matches played: 3 wins + 5 draw + 12 losses

An unbeaten night for Scottish teams in Europe has been a rare occurrence this season. In another season, a home win against the Bulgarian Champions and a score draw in Italy would be a fantastic addition to the coefficient.

Unfortunately the bar is on the floor this season and so in the grand scheme of things the 0.6 points earned tonight through Celtic’s draw (0.2 points) and Rangers’ victory (0.4 points) won’t matter much.

We are still well outside the top 15, although we are still not arithmetically out of it, yet. We trail Cyprus by 3.893 Points, and Celtic could still progress, win 7 games, reach the final, earn 1.25 bonus points and put 4 points on the board while our rivals lose all remaining matches….

Of course we’re almost certainly not going to catch Cyprus, and so UEFA’s rankings look like this, which is pretty much how they’ll finish in May:

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