The draw for UEFA Champions League qualification was concluded on Monday morning, as Celtic continue to watch on.
As you’ll know, Celtic have already secured our spot in the group stage of the Champions League. We’ve been assured of that since we clinched the Premiership title at Hearts on 7 May.
But some of Europe’s less fortunate sides have to come through qualifying just to join us. The remaining teams all now know who they’ll have to beat to make it to the top table.
There are six spots still up for grabs and the Celtic picture has become clearer as we now know who has been drawn to play who.
Third qualifying round ties will take place over this midweek and next, with the final round happening on the following two midweeks.
You can check out the draw in full on the UEFA website. But if we make the (probably daft) assumption that the highest seeded side (in terms of coefficient) will win every tie, here are the six sides that will qualify for the group stage.
Dinamo Zagreb (55.000)
Rangers (54.000)
Braga (44.000)
Copenhagen (40.500)
Young Boys (34.500)
Galatasaray (31.500)
That would, of course, leave us looking at a pot four spot. Our coefficient tally of 31.000 would be lower than all of the six sides mentioned above.
To be a pot three team, we’d need five or more of the qualifying sides to have a lower coefficient total than ours. It looks a long shot.
Regardless, we are in the competition and will face some big names. Teams from Germany, England, Spain and France are likely to join us in pot four, so there may not be a huge difference between that and pot three.
The draw for the group stage is on Thursday 31 August.
In other news, what Celtic require from the final four weeks of the transfer window
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