Celtic and Rangers have discovered their potential opponents for the Champions League play-off round, as the draw was conducted at UEFA's headquarters in Nyon on Monday. Both teams are aiming to secure a place in the lucrative league phase of the competition.
Celtic's Potential Path
Celtic, as Scottish Premiership champions, will face either Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan or Slovan Bratislava of Slovakia in the play-off round. The first leg is scheduled to be played at Celtic Park on August 19 or 20, with the return match on August 26 or 27.
Brendan Rodgers' side will be keen to qualify for the league phase once again, after participating in the revamped 36-team league stage last season. Last season, they were knocked out by Bayern Munich in the knockout round play-off stage. If Celtic wins their play-off tie, they will qualify for the Champions League league phase, while a defeat would see them drop into the Europa League league phase.
Prior to the Champions League play-off, Celtic has two domestic fixtures to play. They will face Aberdeen at Pittodrie this Sunday and welcome Falkirk to Glasgow in the Premier Sports Cup the following Friday night.
Rangers' Potential Path
Rangers must first overcome Czech side Viktoria Plzen in their third-round qualifier to reach the play-off round. The first leg will be played at Ibrox on August 5, with the second leg in Plzen on August 12. Should Rangers prevail against Viktoria Plzen, they will face the winner of Red Bull Salzburg of Austria versus Club Brugge of Belgium for a place in the Champions League. The first leg of the play-off would be at home.
If Rangers lose to Plzen, they will drop into the league phase of the Europa League. Rangers last reached the Champions League group stage in 2022.
Fixture Postponement Option
Celtic and Rangers, should they progress, have the option to postpone their Scottish Premiership fixture scheduled between the two legs of the play-off tie. This is following an SPFL rule change designed to help Scottish clubs in Europe. The league match in question is scheduled for Saturday, August 23.
Draw Procedure
The Champions League play-off draw took place on August 4 at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland. For the draw, teams were seeded based on their club coefficient rankings. The teams are split into groups, with an equal number of seeded and unseeded teams in each group. One ball is then taken from each of these bowls and placed in the third empty central bowl, where they are shuffled. The first pairing drawn from this bowl was considered the home team for the first leg of the first tie, which they will play against the second team drawn. The process was then repeated with the remaining balls to complete all the ties.
