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Celtic's likely Champions League opponents confirmed

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Billy McNeill Celtic newsCeltic will definitely be seeded in next season’s Champions League qualifiers.

In the unlikely event of the first three rounds going entirely to plan Neil Lennon’s side will face Dinamo Zagreb, Cluj, MSK Zilina, Partisan Belgrade or Helsingborgs for a place in the group stage.

Only Basel and Anderlecht in the champions route have a higher co-efficient than Celtic with the draw starting to emerge on June 25 when the first two qualifying rounds are made.

The first qualifying round will feature just six teams but the second round will feature 34 clubs including potential opponents such as Dinamo Zagreb and Partisan Belgrade.

If the second round draw works out according to the seedings the highest placed club that Celtic could face in the third qualifying round would be Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova. Maribor, Debrecen, HJK Helsinki and Slask Wroclaw are other potential opponents provided that they come through the second qualifying round unscathed.

The draw for the third qualifying round will take place on July 20 with the matches being played on July 31/August 1 and August 7/8. If successful Celtic will go into the fourth qualifying round draw on August 10.

If Celtic are knocked out at the third qualifying round they will face one qualifying tie for the Europa League, if they lose out in the fourth round of the Champions League they will drop into the group stage of the Europa League.

Motherwell will be in the third round draw of the non-champions section of the draw and will face Dinamo Kiev, Panathinaikos, FC Copenhagen or Fenerbache, if they get through that stage they could then face Sporting Braga or Aiden McGeady’s Spartak Moscow for a place in the group stage.

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0 comments

  • Celtic Daft says:

    Dinamo Zagreb are a good side with cracking young players.

    They have the highly coveted Mateo Kovacic who has been linked with all the elite European clubs. Dubbed the Croatian Messi.

    I wouldn’t get carried away with our record in Europe.

    • mick f says:

      We have a quality squad with plenty of players with real potential & although we lack some experience we should still be able to beat teams like D Zagreb, Zilina & Partizan.

      I am not saying their not good teams of course they are but if we can’t them we don’t deserve to be in the CL.

      If we fail we can take it on the chin drop into the EL & gain more experience & give it a go the season.

      We’ll get back to the big boys table soon.

  • Greenbhoy says:

    Dinamo Zagreb at Celtic Park would be a cracking.As said above they are a real dangerous team but their support is amazing lots of flares and banners.

    Would be a cracking atmosphere in that game.

  • williebhoy says:

    We should prepare in full expectation of getting a really tough draw…Basel / Moscow Dynamo standard and our pre-season should be built around this. Instead we are flying off to USA to face up with Real Madrid who will be fully acclimatised having had 2 games in USA already…get our priorities right FFS. Such a stupid short visit only does DAMAGE to our reputation not enhancing it.

    Kick the Madrid friendly into touch and get a European based side to give us a tester if need be…much more at stake in Europe.

    • kenny says:

      That post is utter pish. What on earth does it even mean to say lets build our pre season around a hard draw. Do u honestly think they r pre empting an easier draw and adjusting their training accordingly. Glamour pre season games r critical to celtics annual financial model. Celtic have limited income playing in scotland and pre season represents the only time to fuel funds before europe.

      • kenny says:

        That is a nonsense. What on earth does it mean to say they r not preparing for a hard draw. Do u honestly think they r pre empting an easier draw and adjusting their training accotdingly. Glamour pre season games r critical to celtics financial model. Without such income celtic would have published losses in each of the last 3 years. To turn down that fixture would be un thinkable

  • mick f says:

    This could be the last time Scotland has 2 teams in the ‘big cup’ for a long time. Scotland’s club ranking was 25th last season alone. 15th now around 26th over 5 seasons. No doubt ‘they’ will say its because they aren’t in it.

    As long as we are not (& shall not) moved from top spot we’ll still be in it but having to play in the 2nd qualifying round would mean season starting July 17/18th, not long after season ends but thats for the future we can worry about that later.

    The easiest solution is have the SPL won by early April & let our players have a nice long holiday.

    It’d be a good achievement to get into the group stage this season, can’t wait.

  • Trey O says:

    I’ll be in the motherland in early August, with the potential of seeing 2-3 matches. I agree, the trip to Philly makes little sense with so much at stake in Europe. Celtic are in no position to take any team lightly (FC Sion) and hopefully will treat all opponents the way they did Udinese.

    • kenny says:

      The trip makes perfect sense, have u not considered the financial effects of turning it down. Celtics pre season schedules should be applauded. To align the fc sion performance to poor pre season planning is speculative rubbish

  • Vlad says:

    please play with CFR Cluj.

  • Lamberto says:

    Come on mate, don’t get ahead of yourself. We still need to get past the 2nd round. Don’t write an article about who we could get in the 3rd until we’re there.

  • dombhoy67 says:

    Europe is where Celtic belong. They are the only Scottish club that have ever put Scotland on the footballing map in the world and I see the Celt’s becoming a force in Europe once again. Bring it on!
    Hail, Hail.

  • bhoylondon67 says:

    Lots of tough teams in there. We played some really good football in Europe this season after we were reinstated. The difference from the European games at the beginning of the season was huge. when we replaced Sion we were up against some very good teams and held our own. A couple of mistakes and a touch of bad luck turned out to cost us.

  • williebhoy says:

    While I can accept that the financial side of playing Real madrid will be important, maybe worth £ 1-2m to the club. Why not enter the Dublin tourney again, more fixtures, less travelling, similar quality of opposition and probably more money.

    We should not lose sight of the fact we can earn much more by qualifying for the CL proper than taking on a strenuous trip, not giving the players time to settle before playing and then heading back home again.

    Our experiences against such as Basel, Sion, Braga would clearly indicate we have not tailored our pre-season properly as these teams are already up & running.

    Chasing £££’s across the Atlantic and back again isn’t helping. I believe that both O’Neill & Strachan were against some our of previous trips back & forth the USA with good reason.

    Granted it’s not as bad as some pre-season jaunts where we have been globe trotting various continents / time zones but for me the timing is awful. If we want to visit the USA, then set up a proper schedule, play a few matches then head back here to make final preparations.

  • mick f says:

    I can’t find any information on who R#angers will be playing in Europe next season, can anyone help? (hehe, sorry i couldn’t resist it)

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