FIFA shares where Celtic really ranks against the top clubs in European football

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As we all let last night’s Celtic performance percolate in our minds, here we take our thoughts away from domestic business just for the briefest of moments.

Celtic’s performances and results in Europe over the past decade or so have not been up to the standard we all expect as supporters.

In fact, the best European run of late was when Neil Lennon managed to get us out of a Europa League group stage back in 2019.

At that time Lennon navigated Group E against teams like Lazio Rennes and CRF Cluj. The Quadruple Treble-winning manager got Celtic through to the last 32 with two games to spare after securing our first-ever win in Italy in a 2-1 win over Lazio.

Since then it has been a bit of a damp squib. And whilst we saw performances in the Champions League improve of late, the cold hard facts are that in two attempts in two seasons, Celtic have finished bottom of their group on each occasion.

So where does that leave us in terms of our European standing? We think of ourselves as one of the biggest clubs on the continent. Is that still the case?

FIFA rank Celtic 37th in 2025 Club World Cup qualification

FIFA split the qualification into the specific Confederation of where clubs hoping to compete in their tournament hail from.

So for Celtic, we fall under the UEFA banner. Qualification for the tournament in 2025 takes into account the club’s performance in the Champions League between 2021 and 2024. [FIFA]

The route to earning qualification points are as follows:

• 2 points for a win
• 1 point for a draw
• 4 points for qualification for the group stage
• 5 points for qualification for the round of 16
• 1 point for progress to each stage of the competition thereafter

Celtic are currently ranked 37th with eight points having won just one, drawn three and losing eight over this period of time.

Disappointing but the Hoops are still level with the likes of Marseille and Zenit St Petersburg and outperforming the likes of Feyenoord, Newcastle, Bayer Leverkusen and Josip Juranovic‘s Union Berlin.

But don’t feel too bad. Spare a thought for Rangers who are ranked the second-worst team in 62nd place with Malmo, Victoria Plzen and FC Midtjylland all outperforming the Ibrox club.

In other news, BBC touchline reporter shares what the Celtic fans did at half-time in win vs Dundee