Celtic and Rangers told how long it will take to fix ‘disastrous’ coefficient after European embarrassment
That is according to former Aberdeen chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, believes that the current coefficient is a disaster for the Scottish Premiership.
Scotland are once again without a team in the Champions League’s league phase this season after both Celtic and Hearts were knocked out in the qualifiers this summer.
On top of this, Rangers’ shock defeat to Jablonec means they are now out of Europe, alongside Motherwell and Hibernian, who were also eliminated in the Conference League playoffs.
As a result, Scotland’s coefficient ranking could fall again, with the Scottish Premiership already losing a Champions League place and a European spot for the current campaign.
This could now have massive long-term implications for both Celtic and Rangers, with both Old Firm clubs set to find it even harder to reach the Champions League’s league phase.
Scotland’s coefficient won’t be fixed for up to three years
Aberdeen's former chief Wyness - who served as CEO at Pittodrie between 2000 and 2004 and now runs a consultancy business advising elite clubs – believes that it will take years of Scottish clubs doing well in Europe to fix their coefficient.
Teams from the Scottish Premiership have been extremely poor in Europe for many years, with Rangers’ run to the Europa League final in 2022 the only highlight.
In the past two seasons, Celtic have not reached the Champions League’s league phase, while Rangers have not achieved this since the 2022-23 campaign.
Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider's Inside Track podcast, Wyness explained why it is so important for the Old Firm sides that the coefficient is fixed.
He said: “The coefficient is a disaster for Scotland right now. It's the rolling average of five years of club results in Europe, and it's a problem.
“It's going to get worse and worse, particularly this year as well because even if Celtic were to win the Europa League, then it won't really improve the coefficient at all.
“It's going to mean probably that the league winners are going to be starting probably with two qualifying games to go to get into the group stages of the Champions League, whereas it used to be automatic qualification into the group stages.
“So that gives you an idea of how tough Europe is going to be. So yes, the coefficient is very, very poor, and it's going to take two or three years of clubs doing really well in Europe for it to come back to anything decent, and I don't see that on the horizon.”
Where does Scotland currently rank in UEFA's coefficient?
As it stands, Scotland currently ranks 19th in UEFA’s coefficient.
Overall, they have 26.250 points and have earned 2.100 so far this season.
Scotland’s ranking puts them below the likes of Greece, Norway, Cyprus and Hungary, with countries such as Croatia and Ukraine starting to catch them.
If the Scottish Premiership want their two Champions League places and its extra European spot back, it will have to return to the top 15 in the rankings.
However, it remains to be seen if they are able to achieve this anytime soon.