Celtic secure automatic Champions League spot - revamped Swiss model, confirmed teams, prize money, draw date

Celtic return to Europe’s top table after league title win

Celtic have clinched a third successive Scottish Premiership title with a game to spare following the 5-0 win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.

There was a point in the season that a resurgent Rangers were favourites for the title, but Brendan Rodgers has managed to galvanise his squad and see off the fight from across Glasgow. Celtic managed to win three of the four league Old Firm matches, with the other meetings being a draw – a key factor in the destination of the trophy. The two are also due to meet in the Scottish Cup final on May 25.

Celtic fans can now turn their attentions to the trophy presentation on Saturday at home to St Mirren and also next season, with the title win ensuring participation in the League phase of the 2024/25 Champions League. Europe’s premier competition is to be revamped next term, with each team to play eight matches in the main section of the competition rather than six. The number of clubs will be raised from 32 to 36 in a “Swiss model” league table.

Celtic players celebrate after Daizen Maeda scores during the 5-0 win over Kilmarnock that clinched the title and an automatic Champions League spot. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

The teams will be divided into four pots of nine. Pot 1 will contain the holders and the eight clubs with the best coefficients. Pots 2 to 4 are ordered on club coefficient. Each club will be drawn to play two teams from each pot, once at home and once away. So, unlike in the current format, a club in Pot 1 will play a game against two other clubs from Pot 1. UEFA will ask a computer to decide who plays who and from the final table, the top eight go directly into the last 16 and positions nine to 24 will enter a play-off to earn the other eight places in the round of 16. Positions 25 to 36 exit European football entirely.

Celtic join Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, PSG, Liverpool, Inter, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen, Juventus, Arsenal, AC Milan, Feyenoord, Sporting Lisbon, PSV, Monaco, Aston Villa, Bologna, Girona, and Stuttgart in confirming their spot. Celtic will need to wait until the end of the season to discover the identities of the remaining direct qualifiers and then wait for the conclusion of the play-off round in August to have their pot confirmed. The draw date for the league phase is on August 29, with the first set of fixtures due on September 17-19.

In terms of what the Champions League means to Celtic financially, they have ensured at least £15.9milliion in league-phase prize money. Each win in the competition would bring an additional £1.8m per match.