Rangers and Hearts in line for intense Euro fixture slog as Ibrox men face 10 game gauntlet

Rangers may have to play TEN European games before the season breaks for the World Cup if they are to qualify for the group stage of the Champions League.

And it's not much better for Hearts who themselves will have to cram 27 matches in the four months before Qatar 2022 gets underway.

The winter World Cup means UEFA and the SPFL have had to drastically adjust their schedules to compensate for the month-long break.

Champions League, Europa League and Conference League matches have all been brought forward in order to get the group stage completed in time for November 21 - three weeks earlier than normal.

It means that teams playing at that stage will have even tighter schedules than usual.

That gets even more intense for the teams facing qualifiers before they even get there, and Rangers look set to bear the brunt.

It remains a distinct possibility that Rangers will win the Europa League and if they do so they will go straight through to the Champions League group stage.

But they are near certain to finish the league season as runners up to Celtic, so if they fall short in Europe, they would go into the Champions League second qualifying round.

That leaves them facing four games before the group stage gets underway on 6 September.

Gio van Bronckhorst's team kick off with two legs on 19/20 and 26/27 July. If successful, they would move onto the Playoff Round - which takes place on 2/3 and 9 August.

If they were to lose their second qualifying round clash, they would drop into the Europa League playoff - on 18 and 25 August.

Should they lose that , they would drop into the Conference League proper - meaning no matter what, they will play six tournament games as well as four qualifiers.

Add those ten matches to the