CELTIC are on the brink of being placed in Pot 3 of next season’s Champions League – if they get through the three rounds of qualifying.
The Hoops haven’t been seeded higher than Pot 4 since Gordon Strachan’s side reached the group stages in 2008/09.
UEFA’s premier competition is set for a shake-up from 2018/19 with Europe’s top four leagues guaranteed 16 of the 32 places – plus the winner of the Europa League – and that leaves just 15 places for the rest of Europe.
Celtic’s 42.785 total has them in 47th place in UEFA’s club co-efficient – higher than Borussia Monchengladbach’s 42.035 of last season, which was enough for them to be ranked as the lowest seed in the third pot.
More than 20 teams who currently sit above Brendan Rodgers ‘ side in the co-efficient will either not reach the Champions League next season or are, at least, unlikely to qualify.
The likes of Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen and and Fiorentina will not make the 2017/18 competition.
And teams such as Arsenal, Sporting Lisbon and Zenit St Petersburg are still struggling in their domestic leagues to finish within the qualification places.
Croatian side Rijeka and Dutch outfit Feyenoord are currently leading their domestic division and that means clubs such as Dinamo Zagreb and PSV Eindhoven could also miss out.
However, Manchester United, who are drawing 1-1 with Anderlecht after last week’s first leg tie in Belgium, could qualify by winning the Europa League and allow an extra English side into the tournament.
Offer ends midnight tonight!
