UEFA release new club coefficient rankings, sobering drop for Celtic and mitigating factors explained

Add as preferred source on Google

UEFA have released their 2024/25 ranking of clubs based on coefficient points earned from continental competition.

Before any meaningful matches take place for the new campaign, UEFA release the list after shedding off the coefficient points earned five years prior.

For Celtic, that means the decent total of ten coefficient points earned in the 2019/20 season are no longer part of the current rankings.

Celtic’s new position is down at 69, ten places lower than at the end of the 2023/24 campaign. It’s the lowest Celtic have ranked as far back as you can check the coefficients on UEFA’s website, stretching back to 2004/05.

Clubs immediately around the Bhoys in this season’s table include Union Berlin, Lyon, Leicester City and Sparta Prague. There are plenty of smaller clubs and teams with lower budgets than the Bhoys higher up the list.

Celtic’s Champions League participation has an impact

The big mitigating factor and important context here is that with back-to-back direct entries into the very difficult Champions League group stages in 2022/23 and 2023/24, it’s tougher for Celtic to earn significant coefficient points than clubs in other competitions.

You earn the same amount of coefficient points for wins in the Europa League and Conference League, meaning more teams are leapfrogging the Bhoys.

As an example, the aforementioned ten points Celtic earned in 2019/20 came primarily from a Europa League run that had the Bhoys topping their group and progressing into the Round of 32.

Celtic can start to move in the right direction again

The good news is that the low of three coefficient points earned in 2020/21 drops off the rankings next term.

Celtic have earned more than that even in the most recent Champions League years, so the Bhoys could be moving back in the right direction by the end of the current season.

Brendan Rodgers is bringing his team into a new, expanded Champions League format of eight matches and a giant 36-team table.

Celtic will play more matches against Pot 3 and 4 teams than ever before, hopefully helping them pick up some valuable points.

However, that will require strong squad-building from the club this summer. Rodgers is hopeful of signings soon despite a lack of transfer activity so far.

The board need to best prepare the team for the challenges ahead with some investment and restore Celtic’s status in Europe as much as possible. That’s what fans crave.