Champions League details as Celtic close in on title

By Lewis Laird

May 2, 2022

On Sunday afternoon, Celtic took another step closer to delivering the Scottish Premiership title back to Celtic Park.

The Bhoys currently sit six points clear of rivals Rangers, with only three games remaining in the 2021/22 season.

This season, delivering the league title also comes with the added bonus of guaranteed entry into next season’s Champions League group stage, should Villarreal not win the competition this year.

Of course, this means that Ange Postecoglou and his squad will not need to face the rigorous schedule of qualifying for the Champions League.

Over the last few seasons, the Hoops have had a packed schedule of fixtures, playing eight games before qualifying for any European competition.

Although that busy fixture list may be disappearing at the earlier stages of the campaign, the first half of next season will still be a hectic period for Postecoglou and his players.

This is due to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar taking place in December.

During a regular Champions League campaign, sides would usually have two weeks between the majority of Champions League fixtures.

However, next season, clubs face just a seven-day gap between the majority of these European games, with UEFA cramming the schedule between September 6th-November 2nd.

The group stage dates go as follows;

Matchday 1 – September 6/7, 2022

Matchday 2 – September 13/14, 2022

Matchday 3 – October 4/5, 2022

Matchday 4 – October 11/12, 2022

Matchday 5 – October 24/25, 2022

Matchday 6 – November 1/2, 2022

Postecoglou will have his squad currently focused on the job at hand, with the league title still to be mathematically secured in the last few games.

But the potential of Champions League football next season should prove the perfect motivation factor for the players, who are looking to get back to playing on one of the biggest stages in football.

After suffering from many injury issues next season, you would imagine the Celtic manager’s recruitment will be focused on having the quality and depth that will get us through this busy period.

But, it is an exciting prospect to think about the return of Champions League football next season.

In other news, Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou receives classy messages of support from 2 former clubs.