The arduous qualifying trek is over for another year and once again Celtic and Rangers have landed in the Europa League group stage.
That's now four years on the trot for the Glasgow rivals after both came up short in a bid to reach the Champions League.
Steven Gerrard's side have drawn Lyon, Sparta Prague and Brondby with the chance of a third straight progression to the knockout stage a realistic possibility.
Ange Postecoglou, too, will feel Celtic have enough to get out of a group containing Bayer Leverkusen, Real Betis and Ferencvaros.
Nothing is straightforward at this level, however, including UEFA's updated tournament formatting.
Traditionally, the teams who finish first and second would automatically qualify for the latter stages.
But alas, no more.
The tournament has been truncated this year to just 32 teams in the groups, meaning the eight group winners will still progress, but this time straight to a last 16 phase.
For the runners up, however, there remains a last 32 of sorts in that they will be drawn against the eight third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage.
Styled as a play-off, this addition makes that particular stage of the tournament much more tricky.
For example, Rangers finished second in their group in 2019/20 and were handed a tough but, clearly, winnable tie against Braga - who won their Europa League group - which they successfully negotiated.
A glance at this year's Champions League groups immediately highlights the heightened.
You'd expect Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City to qualify from Group A but RB Leipzig have become seasoned operators at the top level. If they were to split the two super clubs, then the likelihood is one would drop into the Europa League, with Club Brugge expected to finish bottom.
Champions League Group B is similarly perilous, with one of Atletico Madrid, Liverpool, Milan or Porto bound for the Europa League.
However, that "third place keeps you in Europe" lifeline that Champions League clubs have long been afforded has now been extended with the arrival of the Europa Conference League.
Eight third placed teams will drop into the knockout stage of UEFA's new tournament.
Of course, qualifying for the Europa League knockouts and playing at the highest level possible will be the ultimate aim for both clubs, and winning the group remains the best way to do that.
But there's now the added safety net of extended involvement in European competition if they finish third.
With the likes of Tottenham and Roma in the Conference League, it's certainly not a competition to be sneered at.
So, as always, UEFA giveth and UEFA taketh away.
Finishing second in the Europa League is no bad result by any means, but it's become even harder to progress further given the arrival of the Champions League teams.
And while going out of the competition would clearly be a disappointment for both Postecoglou and Gerrard, there's at least another shot at continental glory, provided neither team finishes rock bottom.
