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Scottish clubs in Europe next season – what do we now know?

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Scottish clubs in Europe next season – what do we now know?

In terms of qualification via the Premiership, nothing yet.

Just like last term, the league winners will bypass the qualifiers and go straight into the big time. Meanwhile, the runners-up will again have to navigate a third-round qualifier and play-off round.

That’s set to eventually change, though, after Scotland dropped out of Uefa’s top-10 coefficient rankings, meaning next season’s Premiership winners will not get a free pass straight into Champions League.

However, there is a likely lifeline for Rangers should they finish on top next term, given the Ibrox club’s own coefficient ranking.

Under the new tournament format, the highest-ranked champion in qualifying would make it to the group stage – as long as the trophy holders are already qualified.

In the event of Celtic or any other club prevailing, they would face a play-off, with the runners-up needing to get through three ties.

Another thing that’s set to change, and quite drastically, is the competition’s format.

From next term, 36 teams will feature in a single league and each club will play eight matches against eight different opponents, four at home and four away.

The top eight sides in the league will progress automatically to the last 16, while those in ninth through to 24th go into play-offs for a spot in the knockout stages.

Those 25th and below are out and will now not have the safety net of the Europa League, which will also have a similar format change along with the Conference League.

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