Celtic see Champions League shot hang by a thread as Scotland need mammoth coefficient favour after Rangers defeat

Scotland's top 10 UEFA coefficient place is hanging by a thread after Rangers' defeat to Benfica at Ibrox in the Europa League.

And the Premiership's automatic Champions League place from the 2025/26 season is now entirely in the hands of Viktoria Plzen after they squeezed through their Europa Conference League tie against Servette, who Rangers beat in Champions League qualifying, on penalty kicks following a 0-0 aggregate draw over two legs.

It means the Czech outfit need just one draw from the two legs of their quarter final, with the draw taking place on Friday, while Scotland need Viktoria Plzen to lose both matches to retain their top 10 position. The Czech Republic have been breathing down Scotland's neck and had three teams in European action to Scotland's one in the knockout stage. But Rangers were eliminated by the Portuguese champions while Slave Prague were hammered by AC Milan and Liverpool demolished their city rivals Sparta to leave Plzen as the last men standing.

Dropping out of the top 10 would be a blow to Celtic in particular as if they win the league next season (24/25) then they would have to enter in the Playoff Round to try and qualify for the Champions League, however, if Rangers are champions their own CLUB coefficient could save them from feeling the effects of Scotland’s COUNTRY coefficient dropping down the rankings, thanks to a change of rules for the new tournament.

For the last two years, the winner of the league has automatically qualified for Europe's elite competition, while the runners up are forced to qualify. The coefficient formula factors each association's performances in the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League over the past five seasons - including the