Rangers learn Champions League fate

Rangers learn Champions League fate: how much can they make, who can they face, is there Europa League safety net?

Qualification for the Champions League used to be a straightforward affair for Rangers when it was just the champions of their respective leagues.

The names would go into the hat and every team got a fair crack of the whip, there was no seeding and no preferential treatment.Next season, the Champions League changes and so does the money on offer, with Rangers now knowing exactly who they could be facing and what reward they might get should they navigate the perilous qualifiers. Champions League route confirmed for Rangers

In the inaugural tournament, Rangers famously faced Leeds United in a Battle of Britain clash that would see the winners progress to the first ever group stages.Now, Philippe Clement could face an entirely different route to the promised land with X account @scotlandscoeff1 providing the details.

Scotland’s Coefficient is one of the hardest working accounts on X, providing every team in Scotland the lowdown on what the situation is with regards to competing in European football and, of course, the country’s coefficient ranking in terms of league status and how it affects each team.

For Rangers fans, it is a similar situation to last season. Europa League group stage football is guaranteed for a start.

Potentially, Rangers have to qualifying rounds to play to get into the Champions League, however, failure at any stage sees Philippe Clement’s side drop into the second-tier competition.

The only difference is, if Rangers go out at the play-off stage they would be compensated to the tune of £3.6m.

The incentives are huge, but there is more than just a financial benefit to getting into the Champions League.

Due to previous European exploits, Rangers would be in pot two and, theoretically, get an easier group.

Every little helps. Who Rangers could face for Champions League riches

The big question though is, who could Rangers face?

The teams looking to make it into the third qualifying round are; Fenerbahce, Dynamo Kyiv, Lugano and Partizan Belgrade. Two of these teams will progress to the round that Rangers are in and will join Twente and Union Saint Gilloise, who Giovanni van Bronckhorst beat during his time in charge.

In both rounds, Rangers will be seeded. This means that Slavia Prague has been avoided and that the most likely opponents in the play-off round will be Lille or Salzburg who are seeded in qualifying round three.

There is no PSV Eindhoven or team from the top five leagues that shouldn’t be in qualifying after a bad domestic season – all the teams are beatable. That Rangers are the highest ranked team in the qualifying stages gives an idea of what expectations should be. The Champions League is clearly the place to be and the difference in finacial rewards is going to be greater than ever.

For a good run to the Europa League quarter-finals, Rangers could make in the region of £17m. For coming last in the Champions League, that figure is nearly £37m.

That’s not far away from half of what Rangers revenue has been in recent years.

It’s never easy, however, Philippe Clement won’t get a better chance to get Rangers into the Champions League and accelerate his rebuild in the process.

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