There is change afoot for the Champions League and while the big boys try to close it off all too themselves, Celtic and other clubs are trying to fight their corner to make sure it doesn’t become a closed shop.
Although change is expected in the coming years, next years Champions League will remain largely unchanged with Celtic in the same boat as last season and in that respect, there is some good news sprinkled in with the bad news that four qualifiers will need to be played again.
The good news is Celtic are set to be seeded throughout the qualifiers as they get set to take the Champions route side of the qualifiers. Celtic are on the brink of another title in Scotland and once that’s wrapped up then focus will quickly shift to the clubs Euro aspirations.
As usual, Mravick67_ has filled everyone in on the co-efficient which would see Celtic avoid some of the bigger clubs in the qualifiers.
Clubs with a higher co-efficient than Celtic:
Ajax/PSV
– Salzburg
– Basel
– Olympiakos
– Sparta Prague/Plzen
Obviously, only 1 team per country can play in the champions qualifying route.
– Salzburg will probably not have to qualify, but will instead get an automatic group spot.
– Basel are 21pts behind Young Boys in Switzerland.
– Olympiakos are 10 behind PAOK in Greece, with only 6 games to play.
– Plzen and Sparta Prague are 9 and 14 points behind Slavia Prague respectively in the Czech League.
The draw for the first round takes place on June 18 with the first leg played on July 9/10.
Celtic limped out of the qualifiers to AEK Athens this season and will need to avoid a major slip up like that next time around.
