Coefficient in focus as Celtic re-enter Euro arena

Gustaf Lagerbielke's only club goal last season secured a significant Celtic win

Gustaf Lagerbielke was an unlikely hero for Celtic last season.

The Swedish centre-half, who has since joined Twente on loan, contributed to another Premiership title for the champions, but it was his winning goal as a substitute against Feyenoord that ended a significant hoodoo.

Victory over the Dutch side was Celtic's first at home in the Champions League for 10 years and only their second in the group stage of the competition since 2013.

However, the general lack of wins among Scottish clubs at European level means the nation's coefficient has taken a tumble and this season's Premiership winners face a fight to get back into the most lucrative stage of the competition.

What is the coefficient?

Each club has their own ranking in European competition and each country has one too.

The Scottish coefficient fell below the top 15 last term, meaning the champions lose an automatic place in the league phase of the 2025-26 Champions League.

From this season, the league phase replaces the group stage and Celtic's results, as well as those of Rangers and Hearts in the Europa and Conference League tournaments, will impact the coefficient the season after next.

Clubs receive points for participation and performance in the post-qualifying stages of the three European tournaments, with results over a five-year period used to calculate the annual coefficients.

How are Scotland doing?

This season's Premiership winners and the runners-up will enter next term's Champions League a round earlier with the champions in the play-off round and second-placed team in the second qualifying round.

And, as things stand, Scotland's Champions League entrants will drop to one in 2026-27, entering at the second qualifying round.

Celtic's opponents on Wednesday, Slovan Bratislava, were one of the unseeded sides in the play-off round this season while Dynamo Kyiv, who knocked out Rangers in the third qualifying round, were a seeded side in the second qualifying round.

Europa and Conference League places will remain available to Scottish teams next year but the year after the Scottish Cup winners will go into the Europa League first qualifying round and overall the country will have four rather than five teams in Uefa competitions.

There is also the risk of no guaranteed league phase involvement across the competitions in the 2026-27 season.

This season is therefore an opportunity to arrest the downward trend.

Tough tasks for Celtic & Rangers

Celtic and Rangers, who visit Malmo in their first Europa League fixture next midweek, will each have at least seven more league phase games to play in the new, extended format.

The higher they finish in the league phases, the more points they will accumulate. Further points are available for progressing to the knockout rounds.

Celtic must be in the top 24 of 36 teams in order to stay in the Champions League beyond January, with the top eight going directly into the last 16 and the rest involved in two-legged play-offs.

The same applies to Rangers in the similarly revamped Europa League. The Ibrox side boast Scotland's best European results over the past five years, with 31 wins and 19 draws across all competitions, including qualifiers.

That record has given them a higher individual seeding, but one of their strongest campaigns, season 2019-20, will drop off their and Scotland's calculation for the next cycle. Celtic also had a run to the Europa League round of 16 that campaign.

Hearts have role to play too

Although not in Conference League action until October, Hearts can do their bit for the Scottish coefficient over their six fixtures.

Placings and progress in the third-tier competition are worth fewer points, but every bit helps.

Hearts picked up two wins from six in their previous Conference League campaign, while Aberdeen managed one win and two draws last season.

The Tynecastle side are, however, enduring a wretched run of seven straight defeats and have two league games to play before their next European fixture.