Rangers boost coefficient but Celtic loss means Serbia and Russia could still kill Champions League dream

An automatic Champions League place is very much in the viewfinder after Rangers won at Borussia Dortmund but the coefficient challenge is still on.

Gio van Bronckhorst's side took a stunning victory at the Westfalenstadion and, despite Celtic's loss to Bodo/Glimt, pushed the Premiership up to ninth in the UEFA ranking.

That means if the season were to end today then the 2022-23 title winners would be guaranteed a place in the Champions League group phase, but there's still work to do for both teams with Serbia surging strongly.

Scotland started the season ranked 11th in the UEFA coefficient, which was already a big lift for the Scottish Premiership.

This season's title winners have an excellent chance of going into the Champions League group stage, with that place only denied if the winners of this season's tournament haven't missed out on a place via their domestic league.

Getting into the top 10 is the real prize though, as that offers an automatic place regardless.

There are 24 direct qualification places for the Champions League proper: the league winners from the top 10 countries by coefficient, the runners-up from the nations ranked one to six, and the third and fourth teams from Europe's top four leagues.

A further two places are reserved for the winners of the Champions League and the Europa League, unless they've already qualified in which case the place goes to the champions from the 11th ranked nation for the former, and the third place from the fifth ranked for the latter.

A win adds two points to the national coefficient, with one available for a draw, but that is divided by the number of teams that entered UEFA competition at the start of the season.

Scotland's improved ranking has, ironically, made