What Rangers nightmare Champions League exit means for Scotland's coefficient after sliding out of top 15
The future looks very unclear for Scottish clubs in European football
Rangers have been knocked out of the Champions League after suffering a 3-1 aggregate defeat to Dynamo Kyiv - with Philippe Clement addressing the wider implications that will have on his squad rebuild.
Not only did they pass up the £4million bonus for reaching the play-off round, the Ibrox club also missed out on a £40m jackpot that would have seen them compete in the league phase to widen the financial gap between themselves and rivals Celtic.
Following their elimination from Europe’s elite competition, focus will be on how that affects Scotland’s coefficient ranking. The Gers had done a lot of the hard work to put Scotland in a pretty strong position in that regard courtesy of their exploits in the Europa League in recent years - which guaranteed a Champions League group place as well as a chance for the league’s second-placed team to qualify. However, the outlook now doesn’t look too promising.
Assuming Rangers finish in the Scottish Premiership top two this season, Clement’s men are guaranteed at least one more assault on the Champions League, with both Premiership champions (playoffs) and runners-up (second qualifying round) going through the qualification process.
However, defeat to the Ukrainians this week has meant there is a real prospect of Scotland’s second-placed team being banished from the Champions League qualifying rounds altogether after sliding to 16th in the coefficient table - with a spot in the Conference League expected to be the best outcome for the Scottish Cup winners. We would need to find out way back into the top 15 to win back those privileges.
As explained by Scotland’s Coefficient (@scotlandscoeff1) on X, the table will be finalised at the end of this season and the results of that will determine what European spots are on offer for the end of next season (2025/26). Celtic will have the best chance of racking up some points in the months ahead - even the club who finishes in LAST spot out of 36 teams in the league phase will bag six bonus points. In addition, the Hoops can earn two points for a win and one for a draw.
Rangers' participation in the Europa League denies them of the opportunity to contribute bonus points, although they will likely have more chance of registering some points on the board through winning games as the same number are awarded for wins or draws. Points gained are divided by the number of teams each nation enters into European competition. Celtic have so far brought in 1.2 (6 bonus points divided by 5), Rangers 0.1 (0.5 for qualifying draw divided by 5), Kilmarnock 0.2 and St Mirren (0.4).