Rangers in line for lucrative Club World Cup spot - why Celtic will miss out

FIFA's decision to increase the number of participants from seven to 32 teams from six different continents has opened the door to the Ibrox side due to their recent impressive form in Europe. It is claimed the tournament will have the ‘biggest club prize pot in the history of the game’ with an estimated prize pot in the region of £50m.

As things stand, Rangers would qualify for one of the 12 European spots on offer based on their coefficient ranking from the past three years - which includes last year's run to the Europa League final - although next season's performance will also be taken into account, so nothing is guaranteed yet.

Nine teams have already booked their place in the 2025 Club World Cup - namely Real Madrid, Chelsea, Al Hilal, Al Alhy, Wydad Casablanca, Monterrey, Seattle Sounders, Palmeiras and Flamengo. Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Roma, Villareal, PSG, Benfica, Ajax and Rangers are currently placed as the eight European teams to qualify. The winner of Saturday’s Champions League final between Manchester City and Inter Milan will join the list, as will next season's champions.

Rangers could be in line to compete in the 2025 Club World Cup. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

Due to FIFA's ruling that each nation can only be represented by one club, teams with a higher coefficient than Rangers, such as Manchester United, Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund, would miss out.

Despite Celtic’s domestic dominance in recent years, Rangers would qualify as Scotland’s entrant as their European coefficient ranking of 38.000 is far superior to Celtic’s 15.000 across the last three seasons. Club Brugge of Belgium with 35.000, Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia with 33.00 and Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine with 31.000 pose the biggest threat of overtaking the Ibrox club.