The Premier Sports Cup group stage is already underway, but major football action resumes this week as three of Scotland's five representatives embark on what seems to be an increasingly challenging journey through European qualifiers.
On Tuesday, Rangers will host Panathinaikos in the Champions League's second qualifying round. Meanwhile, on Thursday, Hibernian will travel to face Midtjylland in the Europa League's equivalent stage, and Dundee United will welcome Strassen in the Conference League.
Celtic is seeded in the Champions League play-off round, while Aberdeen awaits at the same stage in the Europa League. However, what are the chances of the other teams joining them in the play-offs, and how crucial could this be for Scottish clubs' European standings?
Scotland at Coefficient Cliff Edge
According to the Scotland's Coefficient website, the country's clubs face a precarious situation if they do not perform well enough this season to enhance their joint standings. Only champions Celtic and Scottish Cup winners Aberdeen are assured of league phase football this season.
Rangers and Hibernian can join them by winning their opening ties, but since finishing ninth in Europe for two consecutive seasons, Scotland's coefficient has slipped to 17th. Unless Scotland improves to 14th by the end of the season, its clubs will enter future campaigns in their worst position since 2012.
Representation would decrease from five to four clubs in two years. Moreover, future champions would face three Champions League qualifiers instead of one, and the runners-up would have three Conference League qualifiers instead of three in the Champions League. The Scottish Cup winners would have four Europa League qualifiers instead of one.
Dropping out of the top 12 already means next season's Scottish Cup winners will start in the Europa League third qualifying round instead of the play-offs and won't be guaranteed group stage football. Additionally, the third-place Premiership team will now enter the Conference League second qualifying round instead of the same stage of the Europa League.
The pressure is on for this season's five representatives, with Scotland's Coefficient predicting: "We will not finish in the top 15 unless we have four teams in the league phase."
Greek Side Full of Internationals
Rangers overcame the disappointment of losing to Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League third qualifying round last season by reaching the Europa League quarter-finals, eventually losing to Athletic Bilbao. Along the way, they drew 1-1 with eventual winners Tottenham Hotspur, finishing eighth in the league stage.
Having reached the last 16 the season before, Rangers are now ranked 30th in Europe, 60 places above Panathinaikos. However, the Greek Superleague runners-up have a respectable recent record, having advanced through two rounds before losing to Braga in the play-offs two years ago.
Last season, they defeated Botev Plovdiv 6-1 on aggregate in the Europa League second qualifying round before losing on penalties to Ajax. They then beat Lens in the Conference League play-off, finishing 13th in the league stage and reaching the round of 16, where they lost to eventual semi-finalists Fiorentina.
Panathinaikos have never lost to Scottish opponents in seven matches, although Rangers progressed in the 2008 Europa League round of 32 on away goals after a 1-1 draw at Ibrox was followed by a goalless draw in Athens. Five years earlier, they drew 1-1 in Athens but won 3-1 at Ibrox in the Champions League group stage. Their most recent meeting with a Scottish club in qualifying was a 5-0 defeat of Motherwell in 2011.
Portuguese head coach Rui Vitoria, appointed in October, won seven trophies with Benfica, led Al-Nassr to the 2020 African Champions League semi-finals, and guided Spartak Moscow to win their Europa League group ahead of Leicester City and Napoli.
Former Liverpool youth midfielder Pedro Chirivella, signed from Nantes, is one of three summer acquisitions, along with left-back Giorgos Kyriakopoulos, who left Monza following their relegation from Serie A. Midfielder Manolis Siopis, signed from Cardiff City in January, is among their five Greece internationals, while they have nine other capped players.
Among them are Uruguay winger Facundo Pellistri, who had a brief stint with Manchester United, former Southampton loanee midfielder Filip Duricic, and United States centre-back Erik Palmer-Brown, previously with Manchester City.
Whether Rangers, rebuilding under new head coach Russell Martin, overcome the Greeks to advance to the Champions League third qualifying round or drop to its Europa League equivalent, teams with similar recent European pedigree await. In the top tournament, it is Viktoria Plzen of the Czech Republic or Servette of Switzerland, while Besiktas of Turkey or Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine are arguably more formidable opponents in the Europa equivalent.
Even if Rangers reach the Champions League play-offs, they will still need to overcome Benfica, Brann, Club Brugge, Nice, or Salzburg.
Midtjylland Favourites Against Hibs
Hibernian will travel to Denmark on Thursday as underdogs, given their recent European results. The Leith side has failed to progress through the qualifiers in their last six attempts over 15 years, although they came close two years ago until Aston Villa ended their dream with an 8-0 aggregate defeat in the Conference League play-offs.
Hosts Midtjylland, meanwhile, navigated two rounds before losing to Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League play-offs last season, then finished 20th in the Europa League, qualifying for the play-off round, where they lost to Real Sociedad. This explains why the Danes are ranked 71st in Europe, 166 places above Hibernian.
Having lost 7-3 on aggregate to Rangers in Europa League qualifying in 2019, their improvement was such that they knocked Celtic out of the Champions League qualifying, 3-2 on aggregate, two years later.
Thomas Thomasberg is in his second spell as head coach and has assembled a squad with international experience from around the world. Up front, he has Poland's Adam Buksa, South Korea's Cho Gue-sung, and Guinea-Bissau's Franculino Dju, who is reportedly attracting interest from several Premier League clubs.
Zambia's Edward Chilufya is joined in midfield by Denil Castillo, who recently made his Ecuador debut, while another 21-year-old, winger Darío Osorio, plays for Chile, and centre-back Lee Han-beom recently debuted for South Korea.
Although Kevin Mbabu did not make it to Rangers' bench on loan from Newcastle United in 2015, the 30-year-old right-back has since played for Young Boys and other clubs.
Metadata:
xml
Topics
- Football
- Europa League
- Scottish Football
- Rangers
- Champions League
- Celtic
- Aberdeen
- Dundee United
- Conference League
- European Qualifiers
