Celtic have been handed a major incentive tonight after results went Scotland’s way, despite Rangers’ elimination at the hands of Slavia Prague. Nine men Rangers lost 2-0 at Ibrox but it was results with Ukrainian teams that now mean that the Scottish Champions next season could all but certainly qualify for the group stages of the Champions League.
CONFIRMED!
Scotland finish the season 11th in the UEFA coefficient ranking.
Means 2021-22 Scottish champions are all but certain to qualify direct to the group stage of the 2022-23 Champions League.
Happens as long as the 2021-22 UCL winners also qualify via their league.
— Dale Johnson (@DaleJohnsonESPN) March 18, 2021
Shakhtar and Dynamo Kyiv lost as well today; however, the ever-reliable Moravcik_67 on Twitter updated fans, confirming just how important next season is for Celtic.
1. Despite Rangers trying their best to mess it up at the end, defeat for both Shakhtar and Dynamo Kyiv means that Scotland have secured 11th place in the rankings.
It’s a big deal for Scotland, not just in terms of the Champions League. Here’s why.
— Moravcik67 (@Moravcik67_) March 18, 2021
3. Our runner-up would play in the non-champions route of CL qualifying, with a change of starting in QR3 – if next season’s EL winner also qualifies for the CL groups via their league.
Starting in QR3 would guarantee the runner-up a place in the EL groups at the very least.
— Moravcik67 (@Moravcik67_) March 18, 2021
5. This is what happens when more than 1 team contributes serious points to the coefficient.
Of course, having more teams and the teams starting later in qualifying makes it harder to maintain the position. But that’s the price of being higher up the rankings.
— Moravcik67 (@Moravcik67_) March 18, 2021
Celtic will need to strengthen ahead of the new season with a new manager and footballing operations in place. The management team need to be assembled as soon as possible in order to prepare for the new season. With names like Fergal Harkin and Jesse Marsch touted, Celtic fans can begin to look forward to investment into the team ahead of winning the league title. John Kennedy and the players at Lennoxtown should focus on winning at the weekend. The result at Ibrox proved that Rangers are not as unbeatable as they are made out to be in certain quarters of the media.
Rangers are dead.
Have been since 2012
We try to call them theRangers and do so most of the time but we have many writers and not everyone remembers…
Call them New Rangers…..I remember being at a party in2012 and we used the terms old/ new to distinguish between the 2 clubs…
If Gerrard ends up at Liverpool will Sky refer to them as Steven Gerrards Liverpool…?