Scotland's Coefficient Weekly Review

O’Neill Signs Off in Europe With a Rare Celtic Away Win as both Rangers and Aberdeen slip up at home

Scottish European Qualifying Matches results 2025/26 = 
20/20 matches played: 5 wins + 8 draws + 7 losses

Scottish European League Phase Matches counter 2025/26 = 
14/22 matches played: 2 wins + 4 draw + 8 losses

The Celtic fans that followed their team to Rotterdam tonight would have been doing so, as ever, in hope more than expectation. A side that has looked a shadow of themselves domestically, needing a last minute winner in four of their 8 Premiership victories so far this season.

However the performance away to Feyenoord was as fantastic as it was rare. In Celtic’s run to the 2003 UEFA Cup Final in Seville, Martin O’Neill recorded four away victories (Suduva, Blackburn, Liverpool and Boavista). Tonight’s 3-1 victory in the Netherlands means that, excluding qualifiers, it has taken 22 years for Celtic to match that tally in the competition.

Add in the two away Champions League victories in that time frame and there have been just six Celtic away victories in Europe since that 3-2 loss to Jose Mourinho’s Porto side in the ‘03 final.

This means that excluding qualifiers, Martin O’Neill is responsible for 17% of Celtic’s away European victories in those 22 years.

It was also Celtic’s biggest margin of victory in the Europa League since O’Neill’s 2-0 win at Anfield en-route to the 2003 final in the previously named UEFA Cup. It was also the hoops first win in the Netherlands - at the sixth attempt - since a 3-1 win over Ajax in Champions League qualifying in 2001. O’Neill was the manager then too, of course.

It will surely be O’Neill’s last ever European match as Celtic manager, and he leaves them in a much healthier position; in 21st place on 7 points. Ten points could well be enough to seal progression to the next stage, and two of Celtic’s remaining three matches are at home (Vs Roma & Utrecht).

But what does the victory mean for Scotland’s coefficient?