How can Celtic & Rangers qualify for Champions League?
- Published
Celtic and Rangers qualified for the 2025-26 Champions League by finishing in the top two in the Scottish Premiership.
However, neither are among the 29 teams to have directly reached the league phase of the competition.
Both teams are among those who have to go through qualifiers to earn one of the seven spots still up for grabs.
Get in touch
Send us your questions
Why have Celtic not automatically qualified for the Champions League?
Celtic reached the play-off knockout round of the 2024-25 Champions League, where they were knocked out by Bundesliga winners Bayern Munich
Celtic won the 2024-25 Scottish Premiership title, but will still have to go through one round of qualifying.
That is because of Scotland's position in Uefa's association ranking in the five-year period from the 2019-20 to 2023-24 seasons.
The association ranking - based on the performances of clubs from each country across Europe's three club competitions - determines how many places are given to each nation in the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.
Automatic qualification for league winners is only given to nations that finished in the top 10 of Uefa's association ranking in the period up to a year before that season starts.
Scotland was the 11th best association in the qualifying period for next season, securing two Champions League qualifying round places.
Celtic received direct entry to the Champions League's league phase last season because Scotland was ranked eighth in the five-year period between 2018-19 and 2022-23.
Who are Celtic's potential opponents in the Champions League play-off round?
Fourteen teams will enter the play-off round - 10 in the champions path and four in the league path.
Celtic - because they won their domestic league title - will enter the champions path.
Their Uefa club coefficient ranking means they will be one of five seeded sides in the league path.
Swiss champions Basel and Austrian title winners Sturm Graz are among the teams they could play.
What about Rangers?
Because Scotland is a top-15 nation going into next season's Champions League, the top two in the Scottish Premiership earn qualification spots.
As Scotland's second-best team last term, Rangers will have to go through three rounds of qualifying in order to reach the league phase of the Champions League.
What is Rangers' path to the Champions League?
In the second round of qualifying, Rangers will face either Panathinaikos (Greece), Servette (Switzerland) or Brann (Norway) for a place in the third qualifying round.
If they get through that, the list of potential opponents for Rangers includes Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg, Turkish giants Fenerbahce, French outfit Nice or Viktoria Plzen from the Czech Republic.
If Rangers get through to the final round of Champions League qualifying, Portuguese side Benfica and Club Brugge of Belgium are among the Gers' potential opponents.
This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team. This question was sent in by Tom in Largs. Thank you, Tom.
What is Ask Me Anything?
Ask Me Anything is a service dedicated to answering your questions.
We want to reward your time by telling you things you do not know and reminding you of things you do.
The team will find out everything you need to know and be able to call upon a network of contacts including our experts and pundits.
We will be answering your questions from the heart of the BBC Sport newsroom, and going behind the scenes at some of the world's biggest sporting events.
Our coverage will span the BBC Sport website, app, social media and YouTube accounts, plus BBC TV and radio.