SCOTLAND’S standing in European club competition has slumped at a shocking rate – second only to Latvia.
The drop in the coefficient, a score calculated from the results of SPFL teams in European games, has been dreadful in the last decade.
Only the Latvians have shown more significant decline in the overall performances of its clubs in the Champions League and Europa League.
UEFA’s Benchmarking report, which collates information directly from over 700 member clubs, provides an annual snapshot of the state of the game at a continental and an individual national level.
The figures make grim reading. In the report, which covers financial year 2014, it is noted that Scotland’s place in the coefficient ranking has fallen from 11th to 23rd in 10 years.
Only three nations suffered a double-digit drop in the rankings with Lithuania falling 10 places, Scotland by 12 and Latvia by 14.
UEFA’s report covers up until last year’s competition finals, but results this season have seen Scotland slip further to 25th out of 54 nations.
The report also details the rise and fall of coefficients over the decade and the fluctuation in Scotland’s fortunes over that period are laid bare.
High point over the last 10 years was 2008 when Scottish clubs were ranked 10th best on the continent. That was due mainly to Celtic reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League.
The low point in the period measured by UEFA came in 2013 when Scottish sides were ranked 24th overall. With the coefficient being measured over a five-year spell, the results from 2008 dropped off’ the calculation.
