Scotland have finished 18th. A poor season with Celtic unable to achieve UCL football, Rangers unable to make playoffs and Aberdeen getting 35th of 36. All the other countries around us have no more teams left in current competitions which secures our spot as the 18th nation.
How does that impact us next year?
It doesn't, not next year. Next year we are still living off our 14th place finish in the 24/25 season which allows us to keep 5 teams in Europe. Our top two clubs will enter into the champions league with the champions only having one round to play before qualification (flashbacks to Kairat Almaty). Our cup winner slot is in the europa league 3rd round and will have to play two qualifiers to reach the league phase. They also have the chance to completely fall out of europe by losing both their ties. Yeah, no guaranteed 3 league phase teams anymore as that is a privilege awarded to nations that finished in the top 12. Finally our 3rd and 4th nations (or 4th and 5th if Celtic win the cup and finish top 3) will have to play in the Conference League Qualifying round 2 meaning they would need to bypass 3 rounds to compete in the league phase.
Next year matters a lot as we have currently fallen out of the top 15, which is crucial in bringing European money to the league. Hopefully we will have at least 3 teams in League phases every year but the 3rd teams will have to start navigating through playoffs, which Scottish teams seem to do pretty poorly in.
2027/28
If you thought that was looking bad then you might want to look away beyond this point. This is the year where our 18th place finish properly starts to impact us. Our champions will be the only ones entering into the Champions League and they will have to navigate THREE playoff rounds to reach the league phase. Our cup winners slot will be the only team in the Europa League qualifying rounds and will have to navigate FOUR rounds of qualifying. Meanwhile our 2nd and 3rd place (3rd and 4th if one of the top two win the cup) will have to navigate THREE rounds in the conference league qualifying. And for our 5th slot, well we don't get a 5th slot.
This is the reality that is looking to continue for the following years if we do not start winning more games and picking up more points. With our 21/22 tally (eg. Rangers Europa League Final) getting taken off next year we start even lower and further from salvation of the top 15. We start 19th on 24.150 points about 7 off of Cyprus sitting in the coveted 15th spot (5 nations in Europe), 16 off Greece in 12th (3 guaranteed league phase clubs), and 18 off Poland in 10th (Guaranteed UCL Spot).
Looking at the club tallies this is where we stand as a nation;
Current Season = 32.050 (18th)
Rangers = 59.250 (37th out of all european clubs)
Celtic = 44.000 (58th)
Hearts = 11.500 (154th)
Aberdeen = 10.000 (170th)
Hibernian = 7.000 (223rd)
Dundee United = 4.000
Kilmarnock = 2.500
St Johnstone = 2.500
St Mirren = 2.000
Motherwell = 1.500
Sources for information
Current UEFA rankings;
https://kassiesa.net/uefa/data/method5/crank2026.html
Next season UEFA rankings;
https://kassiesa.net/uefa/data/method5/crank2027.html
UEFA Access List 26/27
https://kassiesa.net/uefa/AccessList2026.html
Club Coefficients
https://www.uefa.com/nationalassociations/uefarankings/club/?year=2026
by TheRealLordDorito
7 Comments
It’s OK, Hearts will win the Champions League next year and get us back on track.
All rangers fucking fault
As an unbiased observer, this is entirely Celtic’s fault.
https://preview.redd.it/uq0y87kyddrg1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4e1b10f5b248d154ce0355e7d0e162de1f30034a
The inclusion of that Conference League has fucked us.
Could be out of date now, but I believe there was chat that there’s a possibility Rangers get direct CL group-stage entry next season if we win the league and Olympiacos come second and the CL winners qualify through their own league.
Having four teams instead of five will likely push us back up again in the mid-term. It’s just the cycle we’re in while we rely on two clubs to get the vast majority of the points.
The conference league has exposed the lack of depth in our league. Hearts and Aberdeen have both had cracks at the group stage and failed to get through and nobody ahs mamaged to qualify by winnign rather than parachuting from the Europa qualifiers. Comoare that to the other countries that you would typically match us to and its pretty poor.
Unless the teams outside the old firm can consistently chip in more points then we are alway oen or two bad seasons in europe from one fo the old firm and we crash fown the rankings