UEFA have made another change to the Europa League qualifying format which could have significant implications for Celtic and other Scottish clubs from next season.
Europa League Draw. Photo UEFA.com
The European governing body will split the Europa League play-off round into separate champions and non-champions paths, potentially making qualification considerably tougher depending on how clubs enter the competition.
Scotland’s Premiership champions are due to enter the Champions League in the second qualifying round, while the runners-up and third-placed side will begin at the same stage of the Conference League.
The Scottish Cup winners, meanwhile, enter the Europa League in the first qualifying round. Should the cup winners have already qualified through their league position, that place would instead pass to the appropriate league finisher.
Crucially, Scotland’s Europa League representative would enter the non-champions path. Should they reach the play-off, they would no longer be able to face champions dropping out of Champions League qualifying.
That protection comes with a downside, however, as Celtic and Rangers’ declining coefficients mean neither would currently be guaranteed to be seeded in the Europa League non-champions play-off draw. Any other Scottish representative would almost certainly be unseeded.
Using this season’s rankings as an example, an unseeded Scottish club could have found themselves facing the likes of Anderlecht, Benfica or Viktoria Plzen rather than Champions League dropouts such as Iberia 1999, Kairat Almaty or Ararat.
There is potentially better news for the Premiership champions.
Should Scotland’s title winners drop from Champions League qualifying into the Europa League play-off round, they would enter the champions path and be seeded. They would also avoid the strongest sides competing through the non-champions route.
It adds another layer of importance to Celtic’s pursuit of the Premiership title this season, with Martin O’Neill’s side currently competing in the Europa League after dramatically missing out on the Champions League.
The Hoops surrendered a four-goal advantage during their play-off defeat to LASK before dropping into UEFA’s second-tier competition.
Rangers, Hearts, Hibs and Motherwell have also experienced difficult European qualifying campaigns this season, highlighting the growing challenge Scottish clubs face in securing league-phase football.
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