Celtic's head coach Brendan Rodgers attends a press conference on the eve of the UEFA Champions League Knockout round play-off second Leg match against Bayern Munich on February 17, 2025 in in Munich. (Photo by Tobias Schwarz / AFP) (Photo by TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP via Getty Images)
Celtic will be one of the seeded teams in the Play Off round for Champions League places after Rijeka clinched the Croatian league title.
Rijeka beat Slovan Belupo 2-0 at home today to pip Dinamo Zagreb to the Croatian title on their head-to head record. The new Croatian champions have a lower co-efficient than the Scottish champions meaning that if they reach the Play Off stage they will be unseeded, unlike Dinamo Zagreb who have a higher co-efficient than Celtic.
The upshot of it all is that Celtic won’t face Bodo Glimt, Red Star Belgrade, Ferencvaros or Copenhagen in the Play Off round.
Five unseeded team will go into the draw including Slovan Bratislava, Basel of Switzerland and Sturm Graz.
Slovan will have to get through two qualifying rounds to reach the Play Off but the Swiss and Austrian champions go straight into the final qualifying stage.
— NK Rijeka (@NKRijeka) May 25, 2025
Going into Matchday 38 Rijeka and Dinamo both had 62 points but with a superior head-to-head the destiny of the title was in the hands of Rijeka who beat Slaven Belupo 2-0 with the opening goal coming after 11 minutes to ease any nerves.
Dinamo won 1-0 at home to Varadin but with the Rijeka match finishing a few minutes ahead of them their win was largely academic.
Celtic now have three months to prepare for a two-legged tie that if successful would take them to the group stage for the fourth season running and guarantee the best part of £40m between UEFA prize money and ticket sales.
Is Michael Nicholson doing a world class job as Celtic CEO?
YES- We are lucky to have such a visionary leader
No- Where is he and what does he actually do?
The Third Round and Play Off draw for the Champions League will take place on August 5 with the Play Off matches on  August 19/20 and 26/27, this season the SPFL will permit clubs involved in Play Off matches to postpone their Premiership fixture between both legs.
So Celtic are seeded….well done Rijeka! It won’t matter 2 hoots if we play like we did yesterday. Some fresh faces and a plan B would be good.
Sinisalo should now be our first pick goalkeeper for the season coming.
Agree but the mistake at the back can happen. But our inability to break down 5 or 6 man Defense is becoming a problem
This old chestnut springs into my mind regarding the qualifier and the Celtic board
‘ When you fail to prepare , you’re preparing to fail ‘
We are about to play in the qualifiers …not a bunch of the best of the SPL crap like TRFC Aberdeen Hibs etc who all have us cussed out …no !
We are going to play serious quality league winners with quality managers who will have done detailed diligence on our playing style you can see and work out from Mars
I so hope i am wrong but i would not bet a penny on BR changing anything .. with the obviously predictable outcome
Step forward the next team to be chiseled onto Lawwells tomb stone.
When you need this Celtic board to step up they’re always found wanting.
Can’t be getting too far ahead of their friends across the river.
B R s style has gone stale , we know it and he knows it after the huns and aberdeen took his tactics apart this season , what’s more worrying is he ‘s not done anything to change his rigid tactics that alone restricts the team from adapting to the challenge in a different manner and limiting them , the monkey and organ grinder need moving on as well ffs coachs me bollix !!
Thank F**k for Rijeka winning that league and Thank You to them !
Might not make much difference tho if certain pig headed people don’t have a Plan B !!!