19 Feb 2010Scottish clubs lose UEFA Champions League place

Football Clubs News | Football Leagues/ Association and Governance

A change to UEFA rankings means that Scotland will lose one of its two UEFA Champions League representatives in 2011.

Following results in the UEFA Europa League last night (February 18th), Belgium have overtaken Scotland in the European governing body's co-efficient ranking table.

This means that Scotland are now in 16th place, which gives the Scottish Premier League (SPL) just one spot in Europe's elite club competition for the 2011-12 campaign.

In addition, the winners of the SPL in 2010-11 will now face three qualifying matches to reach the group stage of the Champions League in the following season.

Rangers and Celtic both issued financial results this week, with the figures emphasising how important Champions League participation has become to the Old Firm.

Reaching the group stage helped Rangers to post a half-year operating profit of £13.1 million, while Celtic revealed a 22.8 per cent decrease in turnover after dropping out in the final qualifying round.

Written by Paul Roberts

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