It’s fair to say that it has already been a mixed season for Scottish teams in Europe, with Kilmarnock crashing out to a part-time Welsh side.
However, despite the ridicule of the Ayrshire outfit and “Scottish fitba” as a result of the defeat to Connah’s Quay Nomads FC, it has actually been a positive start (so far) for the Scottish coefficient.
While the four clubs in Europe have had a ridiculous amount of qualifiers already, the success of Celtic, Rangers and Aberdeen in qualifying thus far has seen Scotland rack up the most coefficient of all countries involved.
National coefficients are based on the results of each association's clubs in the five previous UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League seasons.
The rankings decide how many teams and qualifiers each nation has to play and determines the number of places allocated to each association (country) in the forthcoming UEFA club competitions.
For a win in European competitions during the playoffs for the top competitions in Europe each team playing for .250 national coefficient points for a win and 0.125 points for a draw in any fixture.
Following so far? Good.
This means that over two games, Scottish teams are playing for .500 coefficient points for the nation. So far, Celtic and Rangers have not yet lost a game in Europe meaning that each win has contributed .250 points. Aberdeen have won two and drawn one meaning they too have contributed. Even Kilmarnock have chipped in with a .250 for their first-leg win, even though it ended in defeat overall.
READ MORE: Celtic to face CFR Cluj in Champions League qualifiers
Confusingly, UEFA awards points for teams that have already reached the Champions League and Europa League group stages meaning that teams in England, Spain and the likes have already racked up 2.429 coefficient points. Scottish teams, by playing qualifiers have managed to rack up 2.625 so far.
In the current rankings, Scotland sits in 20th position with the nation being in the top 10 getting an automatic place in the Champions League group stages.
The 11th ranked nation gets a spot if the winners of the Champions League qualify for the competition via their league position.
Two teams get into Champions League qualification if the nation is ranked in 15th place. A move up to 17th place should mean Scottish Champions League qualifiers would avoid the first qualifying round.
Over the last five seasons, Scotland’s coefficient has seen the nation drop through the coefficient rankings with country winning 3.000 points in season 15/16, 4.375 in 16/17, 4.000 in 17/18 and 6.750 in 18/19 giving us a total coefficient of 20.750.
And just like that we have 4 countries completely eliminated from European competition and its not even August. San Marino, Kosovo, Gibraltar & North Macedonia are all done. San Marino fails to get any points for the 1st time since 16/17. pic.twitter.com/CTDFfuBOI6
— UEFA Calculator (@UEFACalculator) July 30, 2019
With Scotland currently topping the coefficient chart across Europe, and with the country looking to top its 15/16 score, the nation could be moving up. As it stands, Scotland would be 19th in the coefficient.
Scottish football fans will be hoping the country can get to that elusive 15th place and secure two teams into Champions League qualifying, however, in order to do so, teams such as Serbia, Croatia, Switzerland and Greece and Cyprus would need to have an exceptionally poor return from their clubs for a number of seasons. Cyprus, who sit 15th in the coefficient table currently have 1.875 points in the charts but also sit 2.100 points ahead of Scotland.
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So while chipping in with coefficient points is good for the Scottish game, we also need others to slip up.
Regardless, if Scottish football fans want to play less qualifiers and try and get more teams in the Champions League, it is imperative that they cheer on all sides left in European qualification to contribute to the coefficient pot.
A breakdown of coefficient points won so far as of 31/07
Celtic 1.000
Rangers .750
Aberdeen .625
Kilmarnock .250
Total 2.625
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