Anxiously waiting is a state of mind the Celtic support know only too well at the current moment.
2nd in the league, 3 points behind leaders Hearts, with only 3 games remaining, means time is quickly depleting in the Scottish Premiership game of catch-up that Celtic have been chasing since September.
Hearts will have the chance to extend this gap to 6 points, should they come away from Motherwell with a win on Saturday evening, before Celtic host Rangers on Sunday, the latter who are now almost mathematically out of the title race after defeat at Tynecastle on Bank Holiday Monday.
With eyes already cast over the summer, with expected big changes in Celtic’s playing squad, and awaiting news on whether we will finally modernise the footballing structure, as well as who will oversee everything in the dugout going forward, Interim Chairman Brian Wilson is on record as stating it is a big summer ahead.
We also have another bout of qualifiers to tackle, so let’s jump into some permutations.
A note to add before we dive in, the only way Celtic can guarantee League Phase European Football next season is by winning the league.
Celtic finish 1st
5-in-a-row and #56! How have we managed that!
We now have another Champions League playoff round to look forward to.
The playoff round, as things stand, consists of 10 clubs: 6 winners from the previous qualifying round, with the 4 champions from Scotland, Norway, Greece and Austria entering also, as things stand. Due to the nature of previous qualifying rounds, it is difficult to say who we would face however, due to our Club Coefficient points being stronger than the current/potential champions of the above countries (Viking, AEK Athens and LASK – as things stand respectively), Celtic would likely be seeded for the draw resulting in, on-paper, an easier draw but we know Kairat Almaty all too well.
Consequences if Celtic lose this round: Celtic would enter the Europa League, League Phase, as we did in 2025/26.
Dates: The draw is completed on 03 August 2026, with the qualifiers taking place on 18/19 August 2026, with the return leg a week later.
Celtic finish 2nd
Celtic would enter the Champions League at the 2nd Qualifying Round (League Path), and we have likely opponents already, but there are moving parts so buckle up!
At the time of writing, whether Celtic will be seeded/unseeded relies on three things.
For Celtic to be seeded, we would require Aston Villa to win the Europa League as well as finish in the top 5 of the Premier League, and for RB Salzburg to finish anywhere but 2nd in the Austrian Bundesliga.
Celtic’s Daizen Maeda (right) celebrates with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain after scoring his sides third goal during the William Hill Premiership match at Celtic Park, Glasgow. Picture date: Saturday April 25, 2026.
Celtic would be seeded only if all of the above comes to fruition, as UEFA would need to rebalance the league path, and if history is anything to go by, instead of three ties in QR2, there would only be two ties, which of course would also give us a slightly easier matchup. Should Celtic end up seeded, we will face one of:
- Runners-up in Austria (Sturm Graz or LASK);
- Runners-up in Poland.
If any one of those above do not happen, Celtic would be unseeded and will face one of:
- Bodo/Glimt;
- Runners-up in Turkey (Galatasaray / Fenerbahce – likely to be Fenerbahce);
- Runners-up in Greece (PAOK or Olympiakos).
I can hear the collective groan!
Consequences if Celtic lose this round: Celtic would drop into the Europa League 3rd qualifying round.
Dates: The draw is completed on 16 June 2026, with the qualifiers taking place on 21/22 July 2026, with the return leg a week later.
A potential tall order with the amount of turnover expected this summer.
Celtic finish 3rd – and win the Scottish Cup
A poor end to the Scottish Premiership season but rounded off with Martin O’Neill signing off with a trophy.
Celtic would enter the Europa League at the 3rd qualifying round. The 3rd qualifying round will be made up of 14 clubs, which will consist of several cup winners, winners from the Europa League 2nd qualifying round as well as the losers from the Champions League 2nd qualifying round (League Path).
Consequences if Celtic loses this round: Celtic would drop into the Europa Conference League playoff round.
Dates: The draw is completed on 20 July 2026, with the qualifiers taking place on 06 August 2026, with the return leg a week later.
Celtic finish 3rd – and lose the Scottish Cup
Now, this would sum up the season. The money stored away for a rainy day? it’s a storm outside and the roof is leaking, Celtic!
Celtic would enter the Conference League at the 2nd qualifying round and with 88 clubs featuring in this round, Celtic would face an opponent that could hail from anywhere between Ireland all the way to Kazakhstan.
Linked with the Celtic job, and one of the fans’ favourites, Jens Berthel Askou would have the chance to face one of his former clubs should he land the Celtic job, with IFK Goteborg of Sweden & HB Torshavn of Faroe Islands available to be drawn against.
Consequences if Celtic loses this round: Celtic would be eliminated from European competition for the 2026/2027 season. A disaster.
Dates: The draw is completed on 16 June 2026, with the qualifiers taking place on 23 July July 2026, with the return leg a week later.
There we have it. That is what awaits Celtic’s summer in amongst the angst of transfer news and another managerial hunt upon us. And whilst World Cup fever might be rocking the country in mid-to-late June, Celtic have bigger fish to fry and a lot of work to be doing should we look to be featuring in four club competitions next season.
All we can do as Celtic supporters is anxiously wait and see what our fate is to be.
Thank you for reading, you can follow me on Twitter / X @LK95_ if you enjoyed and would like to read more of my ramblings – fair warning, it’s mostly Yang propaganda.
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