Scotland suffers huge Champions League blow
Soccer Football - Champions League - Group E - Celtic v Feyenoord - Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain - December 13, 2023 Celtic's Callum McGregor celebrates with teammates after the match Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff
Next season will be the last in which the SPFL champions will be given automatic qualification into the Champions League.
A draw for Plzen against Fiorentina in UEFA Conference League has edged the Czech co-efficient above Scotland to secure the final automatic spot into the UEFA money-spinner.
From season 25/26 the Scottish champions will have to go into the Champions Route to the competition which involves qualifiers against champions from similar nations.
Celtic have enjoyed the benefits of two successive guaranteed places in the group stage but next season’s SPFL champions will face two qualifying rounds covering four successive August midweeks to make it into the new, expanded Champions League format.
Plzen’s draw with Fiorentina tonight sees the Czech Republic take 10th place in the rankings away from Scotland.
That means Scotland loses the guaranteed CL place for the 25/26 season.
This year’s SPFL winner still qualifies automatically for next season’s tournament.
— Moravcik67 (@Moravcik67_) April 11, 2024
Recent performances in Europe suggests that it will be some time before Scotland return to the top level with the co-efficient based on five years of results from all clubs.
To regain an automatic place it would require two clubs picking up more than six points from group stage matches, Celtic achieved that in season’s 2019/20 and 21/22 but failed badly in the other three campaigns with just six points from their last two seasons in the Champions League.