Aberdeen and Rangers have enjoyed a rise in UEFA’s coefficient rankings this season.
Both Scottish Premiership clubs have taken part in back-to-back Europa League campaigns and although the Pittodrie side suffered an exit at the third qualifying round, the Glasgow club have reached the group stage for successive seasons.
Steven Gerrard ’s squad savoured a dramatic late winner from Alfredo Morelos against Legia Warsaw at Ibrox last month that propelled them into the tournament proper.
Rangers now face games against Feyernoord, Porto and Young Boys.
Aberdeen , meanwhile, bowed out at the stage before the playoffs for yet another season as they went down to Rijeka 4-0 on aggregate.
But the defeat still hasn’t stopped the Dons rising up UEFA’s rankings.
These placings dictate a club's seeding in draws and the revenue distribution based on results in the Europa League.
They are made up of match points and bonus points collected by teams during UEFA competition over the past five years.
In season 2018/19 the North-East club sat in 192nd place but they have climbed to 152nd with 6.5 points, an improvement of one point.
In further boost to our game, Rangers have also risen. Last season the Ibrox giants were in 206th position. Now they are in 191th place.
Celtic, however, have fallen from 47th spot last year to this season’s placing of 55.
The relative success of Scottish clubs in Europe mean Scotland’s coefficient is also on the up. Our country’s ranking is now 19th, with Serbia in sight one berth above. Top put it into context, Scotland were slumped in 26th spot just two seasons ago.
Further progress could result in an extra Champions League place for the country.
