Wednesday night was a triumphant one for English clubs in Europe as Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester City all finished in the top eight in the competitive stages of the UEFA Champions League.
Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest continued the positive momentum on Thursday by ending their Europa League campaigns on a high with wins over Salzburg and Ferencvaros respectively.
As a result, the Premier League is well on course to secure a fifth spot in the Champions League.
However, the European performances of clubs north of the border in Scotland have been much less impressive this season.
Scottish clubs in Europe this season
For starters, both Celtic and Rangers failed to qualify for the Champions League. Celtic were knocked out by Kazakhstan’s FC Kairat after losing on penalties in the play-off round, while Rangers were beaten 9–1 by Club Brugge at the same stage.
Rangers eventually ended up in the Europa League, but are now also out of that competition. A 3-1 defeat to Porto on Thursday left Rangers 32nd in the Europa League competition stage, ahead of only Nice, Utrecht, Malmö and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Rangers certainly fared better than Aberdeen, who finished 35th out of 36 teams in this season’s Europa Conference League, after taking just two points from their six games against Shakhtar Donetsk, AEK Athens, AEK Larnaca, Armenia’s Noah, Strasbourg and Sparta Prague.
However, there is still some Scottish interest in Europe this season. Celtic defeated Utrecht 4-2 on Thursday to finish 21st in the Europa League, earning a place in the knockout stages.
In total, Scottish clubs played 22 matches in the competitive phase of the Europa League and Conference League this season. Together they won four matches. That’s half of Arsenal’s total number of wins in their perfect Champions League run.
Results of Scottish clubs in Europe this season
| Aberdeen (Conference League – competition phase) |
|---|
| Lost 3-2 at home to Shakhtar Donetsk |
| Lost 6-0 to AEK Athens |
| Drawn 0-0 against AEK Larnaca |
| Drawn 1-1 at home against Noah |
| Lost 1-0 at home to Strasbourg |
| Lost 3-0 to Sparta Prague |
| Celtic (Europa League – League Stage) |
| Drawn 1-1 against Red Star Belgrade |
| Lost 2-0 at home to Braga |
| Won 2-1 at home against Sturm Graz |
| Lost 3-1 to Midtjylland |
| Won 3-1 against Feyenoord |
| Lost 3-0 at home to Roma |
| Drawn 2-2 against Bologna |
| Won 4-2 at home against Utrecht |
| Rangers (Europa League – League Stage) |
| Lost 1-0 at home to Genk |
| Lost 2-1 to Sturm Graz |
| Lost 3-0 to Brann |
| Lost 2-0 at home to Roma |
| Drawn 1-1 at home against Braga |
| Lost 2-1 to Ferencvaros |
| Won 1-0 at home against Ludogorets Razgrad |
| Lost 3-1 to Porto |
Scotland is banking on Celtic to boost its position in the UEFA club rankings
Celtic now face Stuttgart or Robbie Keane’s Ferencvaros.
A win in that two-legged match could be hugely important for Scottish football and the number of European places the country is awarded in the coming seasons.
At the start of this season, five Scottish clubs took part in UEFA tournaments.
Celtic and Rangers both started in the Champions League before progressing to the Europa League.
Hibernian started in the second qualifying round of the Europa League, but did not even reach the competitive stage of the Conference League.
Dundee United lost in the Conference League qualifiers, while Aberdeen reached the league stage but failed to win a single match once there.
Scotland ranks lower than Cyprus
Such poor performances across the board are currently reflected by Scotland’s dismal collective score in the latest UEFA rankings.
The UEFA club coefficient rankings, which are used to determine how many European spots each country gets, are calculated based on performances over the past five seasons.
Scotland are ranked 18th in the latest rankings, but their position could fall much lower due to dismal 2025/2026 results.
Based exclusively on performance in the 2025/26 season, Scotland is ranked 26th by UEFA with just 4,600 coefficient points. For context, English clubs have currently earned 20,958 this season, and that figure is expected to rise as nine Premier League teams continue to compete in the three UEFA tournaments.
The countries currently ahead of Scotland in the 2025/26 rankings include Bulgaria, Slovenia, Azerbaijan and Cyprus.
Coefficient ranking of UEFA association clubs for the 2025/26 season
| Nation | 25/26 |
|---|---|
| 1. England | 20,958 |
| 2. Portugal | 16,600 |
| 3. Germany | 16,214 |
| 4. Spain | 15,531 |
| 5. Italy | 15,500 |
| 6. France | 13,750 |
| 7. Poland | 13,625 |
| 8. Greece | 12,100 |
| 9. Cyprus | 11,906 |
| 10. Denmark | 11,750 |
| 11. Belgium | 10,000 |
| 12. Czech Republic | 9,725 |
| 13. Netherlands | 8,645 |
| 14. Turkey | 8,275 |
| 15. Ukraine | 6,812 |
| 16. Norway | 6,550 |
| 17. Hungary | 6,187 |
| 18. Switzerland | 6,000 |
| 19. Azerbaijan | 5,812 |
| 20. Romania | 5,750 |
| 21. Croatia | 5,406 |
| 22. Serbia | 5,250 |
| 23. Sweden | 5,000 |
| 24. Slovenia | 4,750 |
| 25. Bulgaria | 4,687 |
| 26. Scotland | 4,600 |
| 27. Republic of Ireland | 4,250 |
| 28. Austria | 4,100 |
| 29. Kosovo | 3,781 |
| 30. Armenia | 3,687 |
| 31. Iceland | 3,625 |
Ranking of UEFA club coefficients over the past five seasons
| Nation | Points |
|---|---|
| 1. England | 111,797 |
| 2. Italy | 96,446 |
| 3. Spain | 90,484 |
| 4. Germany | 87,331 |
| 5. France | 78,927 |
| 6. Portugal | 69,266 |
| 7. Netherlands | 66,595 |
| 8. Belgium | 60,850 |
| 9. Turkey | 49,075 |
| 10. Czech Republic | 47,225 |
| 11. Greece | 46,312 |
| 12. Poland | 44,625 |
| 13. Denmark | 41,606 |
| 14. Norway | 39,737 |
| 15. Cyprus | 35,443 |
| 16. Switzerland | 34,500 |
| 17. Austria | 33,850 |
| 18. Scotland | 31,650 |
| 19. Sweden | 29,625 |
| 20. Israel | 27,500 |
| 21. Croatia | 26,531 |
| 22. Hungary | 25,937 |
| 23. Romania | 25,250 |
| 24. Serbia | 25,250 |
| 25. Ukraine | 24,412 |
| 26. Azerbaijan | 22,937 |
| 27. Slovenia | 22,843 |
| 28. Slovakia | 22,375 |
| 29. Bulgaria | 20,562 |
| 30. Russia | 18,299 |
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