The wound is still very fresh from Celtic’s latest European calamity but the show must go on and for Moravcik67_ the social media Euro expert used what happens next as a distraction.
Are Celtic still in Europe?
Yes, they will enter the 3rd qualifying round of the Europa League.Â
Here is a detailed explanation of what Celtic may face and there’s even the potential for a bye to the play-off:
2. The EL qualifiers are a bit different for us, for a variety of reasons. We enter what’s called the “Champions Path” which means we can only play other national champions who have, like us, been knocked out of the champions route of CL qualifiers.
3. I can’t say at this stage who we might play, as the EL is one round behind the CL at present. ELQR1 is played tomorrow, with QR2 on 17th September. This means our next European game will be on 24th September – 4 weeks tomorrow. I believe the draw is on Tuesday.
4. Note that the playoff round in the EL is a one-off match, compared to the normal home and away playoff we would have faced in the CL. That’s the way the EL will catch up with the CL to ensure that they both finish their qualifying in the same week.
5. Something else of note. Seeding in the EL is different to the CL. Our coefficient no longer matters in qualifying. A team dropping out of the CL is seeded for its first EL qualifier, then unseeded for the rest. So we will be seeded for QR3, but unseeded for the playoff.
6. This is why there are 17 seeds and 3 non-seeds in the list of teams back in tweet #1. The 17 seeds are the teams knocked out in CLQR1. The 3 non-seeds are the 3 teams knocked out in the CL Prelim. Any of those teams that win their QR2 match will be unseeded for QR3.
7. What will happen at the QR2 draw is that the 3 non-seeds will first be matched with a seeded team. The remaining 14 seeds then go into an open draw and could play any of the others. It makes EL qualifying a bit more dangerous, particularly if you lose early, as we have.
8. What this means for QR 3 is that we could potentially draw Astana. Although the odds are small – given the number of other teams, and UEFA seeming to want to regionalise as much as possible this year. But it is still a possibility.
9. For the playoff round, we could get drawn against any team left in the Champions Route of EL qualifying. This is because we would be one of 11 unseeded teams. There will be 5 seeds – the teams knocked out of the champions route of CLQR3.
10. As the draw will be unbalanced, the 5 seeds will be matched with 5 non-seeds. The remaining 6 unseeded teams will then go into an open draw with each other. Again, in terms of EL qualification, losing tonight has made making the EL groups far tougher than normal.
11. Among the teams we could face in the playoff (so far) are Astana, Ludogorets, Legia and Cluj. That’s before you add in teams knocked out of CLQR3. We could draw Ferencvaros again in qualifying. And with the playoff being a one-off, it’s more dangerous than we’re used to.
12. I’m bet you’re glad I told you all of this? Finally, should we make the EL group stages we’d likely be a Pot 2 team again.
It’s a lot of information to take in but a path to the Europa League group stage path will see us play potentially two one off games.
We could face sterner competition than our Champions League conquerors which could pose its own problems. The bhoys have a lot of making up to do and their start to the season has been sluggish. Against organised opposition in empty stadiums, we’ve struggled.
Neil Lennon has called some of his players out after the shock defeat and we’ll see how many of Wednesday’s side make it to the Europa League qualifiers.
If Celtic were to be knocked out of the Europa League before the group stage it would free up dates for the club to play out their fixtures in a more timely manner. The Europa League isn’t as lucrative as the Champions League but it does yield decent income.
That’s straightforward then !