Rangers receive major seedings boost for Champions League return

Last week’s dramatic 4-3 Europa League win over Royal Antwerp in Belgium has boosted the UEFA club coefficient of Steven Gerrard’s side, allowing them to leapfrog Bulgarian champions Ludogorets in the projected seedings for the champions qualifying path of Europe’s elite tournament in 2021-22.

As it stands, Rangers would now be one of the six seeded teams in the third qualifying round – the first of two rounds between them and the group stage.

Based on current domestic league placings, Rangers’ six potential unseeded opponents in the draw would be Ludogorets, Steaua Bucharest of Romania, Swedish champions Malmo, Polish title holders Legia Warsaw, Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova and Hungarian champions Ferencvaros.

If Rangers progress to the play-off round, they will almost certainly be unseeded. Potential opponents at that stage would include Austrian champions Salzburg.

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