Champions League boost for the Scottish Premiership thanks to strong Europa League showings from Celtic and Rangers

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It’s been a mixed bag for Scottish clubs playing in Europe recent years, with results often ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous.

There have been plenty of impressive results, like Celtic going to Rome and beating Lazio, Aberdeen going through to the knockout stages, Rangers found their way to the final 16 last year and even St Johnstone proved the smaller clubs can get good results by knocking out Rosenborg and Luzern.

For every great European night there will be a Progres Niederkorn, a Lincoln Red Imps or a Connah’s Quay who will provide a shock.

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It means the coefficient has been a mess for a long time, and most teams will need to play through four qualifying rounds just to reach a group stage.

Things are starting to look up after the BBC reported that the Scottish Premiership will receive two Champions League places from next season, although it will just be in the qualifying rounds.

Whoever doesn’t win the league could end up with a play-off with someone like Benfica in the final qualifying round so it will be tough, but at least things are looking up.

The climb in the rankings comes after Celtic and Rangers reached the knockout stages of the Europa League last season and some of the poorer results were falling off the records.

There will be three other places on offer between the Europa League and a new European competition for the Scottish Cup winners and the 3rd and 4th places teams in the league, so hopefully the teams continue to do well and we see them entering at later qualifying rounds.