As current season ends, next term already looms large for SPL sides

AS Inter Milan and Bayern Munich bring down the curtain on the European club competitions season in Madrid tonight, there will be only an almost indecent period of rest before Scotland's latest attempt to earn some credibility on the continental stage begins.

• Motherwell and Hibs will be back in action in July

In just 53 days' time, Motherwell will kick off the new Scottish season in earnest when they play the first leg of their Europa League second qualifying round tie. It is difficult to decide what is more eye-watering about the 15 July diary date – that it comes just three days after the World Cup final in Johannesburg or that it is exactly two weeks after Craig Brown's 70th birthday.

Remarkably, the veteran Motherwell manager will be leading a side into European club competition for the first time in his career. It can only be hoped his vast international experience can assist the Fir Park club to play their part in sparking a desperately needed improvement in fortunes for Scottish teams in Europe.

In the campaign coming to a formal close with this evening's Champions League final, the six participating Scottish sides managed a miserly combined tally of six victories from 28 European fixtures. It maintained a seriously damaging slide of Scotland's Uefa co-efficient ranking which needs to be arrested quickly if our clubs are to avoid a lengthy exile to the fringes of Champions League and Europa League involvement. Motherwell, who secured Scotland's final Europa League slot as a result of their fifth-place SPL finish, will learn their first opponents when the second qualifying round draw is made on 21 June. They will enjoy the notional benefit of seeded status, although they could still face clubs such as former Cup Winners' Cup winners Dinamo Tbilisi of Georgia at this stage. Supporters of the Lanarkshire club will hope for a more benevolent pairing, perhaps against Andorran minnows Sant Julia or a logistically comfortable assignment with Bangor City of Wales.

If they reach the third qualifying round, Motherwell will be joined by Hibs. Discounting their various Intertoto Cup misadventures, this will be the Easter Road club's first European campaign for five years. Hibs may squeeze into the seeded group of clubs for the draw, thereby avoiding heavyweights such as Liverpool, Juventus and Sporting Lisbon, but again dangers lurk among the non-seeds in the shape of teams like former Uefa Cup winners IFK Gothenburg. The first leg for Hibs will be on 29 July, still more than two weeks before the new SPL season begins.

Dundee United enter the Europa League fray in the Play-off round, the final hurdle before the group stage. The Scottish Cup winners will certainly be unseeded, as will Hibs and Motherwell if they survive to this stage, and could face opponents of considerable stature. Porto, CSKA Moscow, PSV Eindhoven, Manchester City and Aston Villa will be among the seeds. Celtic will hope they are not involved in the Europa League at this stage. If they are, it will mean they have lost their third qualifying round tie in the Champions League. The Parkhead club received disheartening news last weekend when little-known Bursaspor's Turkish League triumph catapulted runners-up Fenerbahce into the qualifying stages of the Champions League.

The Istanbul club have a higher co-efficient than Celtic, relegating the SPL runners-up into the non-seeded pot for the third qualifying round. In the draw on 16 July, Celtic will face one of Fenerbahce, Zenit St Petersburg, Ajax, Dinamo Kiev or Sporting Braga. Should they win that tie, the task in the Play-off round of the Champions League promises to be even more daunting with Sevilla, Tottenham and Werder Bremen among their possible opponents. If Celtic lose at that stage, they would drop directly into the group stage of the Europa League.

Rangers, then, will enjoy the considerable comfort and financial boost of direct entry into the group stage of the Champions League. As a consequence of Scotland's co-efficient slump, it is likely to be the last season for some time that the SPL title winners do not have to qualify for the elite European tournament. The Ibrox club will almost certainly be among the third pot of seeds when the draw is made in Monte Carlo on 26 August. They would sneak into the second pot, however, if the higher ranked quartet of Sevilla, Werder Bremen, Zenit St Petersburg and Tottenham all fail to come through the qualifying rounds.

Rangers first match will be on 14 or 15 September. While next year's Champions League final at Wembley and the Europa League final in Dublin may be well beyond the aspirations of Scotland's five representatives, it can only be hoped they at least reclaim a degree of pride for the country on foreign fields.