The facts behind Celtic and Rangers claims over Scotland’s automatic Champions League slot
Rangers leaning pundits, and the club’s punters, were routinely mocked by Celtic’s online community over one particular despair. A lamenting that their bitter rivals would cash in on the Ibrox side’s continental exploits being responsible for Scotland’s top-flight winners gaining direct entry into the Champions League group stages once more. The contention was certainly erroneous. In the five-year period determining the country’s place in UEFA’s coefficient rankings – so from 2016-17 to 2020-21 – Celtic’s points haul was 34, set against Rangers’ 31.250. The Ibrox club didn’t even compete in Europe in the first of those years, then having only just earned promotion from the Championship and fresh from losing the Scottish Cup final.
Yet, essentially, those promoting the returns for the national game underpinned by Rangers’ recent showings were merely jumping the gun. Scotland’s title winners in the forthcoming, 2022-23 top flight campaign will also go straight into the Champions League. And Rangers’ endeavours in cross-border competition, by some margin, are central to that fact. Of course they would be, it might be proffered, when Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s team progressed all the way to the Europa League final. However, even if Rangers have exited at the last 16 stage against Borussia Dortmund, their five-year coefficients points total would still have surpassed that of Celtic in the same period. As it is, Rangers tally of 50.250 is in a different ball-park to Celtic, who harvested a modest 33 points between 2017-18 and 2021-22. In part, it must be said, because in that period they had two campaigns in the Champions League, where wins are altogether more difficult to come by than in the Europa League. Reflected in the fact Celtic have registered merely one victory from their past 12 outings in the club football’s blue riband competition.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdAs a result, the Ibrox side are currently the 34th ranked European club while their fiercest foes are one of five clubs in joint-49th place. That creates the potential for a curious quirk. For their bid to join Celtic in the group stages Rangers are seeded, both for the third round Champions League qualifier and the play-off that would follow if that first hurdle is negotiated. In the event of them and all the other highest seeds in both the league and champions qualifying paths living up to their status, Celtic will find themselves the lowest ranked team in next season’s Champions League.
A message from the Editor:
Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers. If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.