The changes to European Group Stage football that may affect Scottish teams


This season, there have been several alterations to European football. The introduction of the Europa Conference League has given Scottish sides outside the Old Firm a real opportunity to secure group stage football. There have been changes to qualifying as well as group and knockout stages and today I’ll be looking specifically at the adjustments to the group stage onwards. 

At the time of writing, Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen and St. Johnstone are all yet to play the second leg of their respective play off ties. Just one of these sides have to overturn a loss and the two teams that have to travel are Celtic and Rangers; the Gers will make the 16 hour round trip to play in the searing heat of Armenia against Alashkert whereas the Hoops have a trip to the Netherlands to defend their 2-0 lead over AZ Alkmaar. St. Johnstone drew 1-1 with LASK in Austria last week; they will fancy their chances with a close to full capacity McDiarmid Park. As mentioned, just one side have to come from behind in their tie and that is Aberdeen. The Dons will be hoping to turn the 1-0 score line against Qarabag on its head. Remember, losses for Celtic and Rangers in their Europa League play off means they drop down to the group stage of the Europa Conference League. Should St. Johnstone or Aberdeen taste defeat in their Europa Conference League play offs, they will be eliminated from Europe completely. 


In previous years, the format was simple. Finishing first or second in the Champions League groups would see you into the last 16 of the competition. Third place in a group of Europe’s top club competition would mean you drop into the Europa League last 32. In the Europa League group stage, teams that finished first or second, went into the hat for the last 32. Third or fourth in a Europa League group seen teams out of Europe all together. That was the past, now let’s look at the present. 


For the 21/22 season there is, of course, the addition of the Europa Conference League to revitalise European competition. For the Champions League, the format is the same as in previous years. In the Europa and Europa Conference Leagues though, is where things begin to get somewhat complex. 


We’ll talk about the Europa League first. Instead of the customary 48 team group stage, this part of the competition will consist of 32 clubs. The last 32 of the competition has been scrapped and group winners are sent directly to the last 16. Runners up in groups will take part in a new post group play off stage, before the last 16. Teams which finished third in Champions League groups will compete in this stage of the competition also. A third place finish in Europa League groups mean a drop down to the afore mentioned play off stage, but of the Europa Conference League. 


The Europa Conference League itself is almost identical to the Europa League. 32 teams will take part in the group stage and the eight group winners head straight to the last 16. Runners up in groups will play in the post group, pre last 16 play off stage. Third place teams from Europa League groups compete in this part of the competition as well. Sides who finish either third or fourth in Europa Conference League groups will be knocked out of Europe all together. 


Finally, should Celtic and Rangers qualify for the Europa League this week, they would have to finish bottom of their group for them not to get European football after Christmas. Even St. Johnstone and Aberdeen have a adequate opportunity of having Europe in the new year depending on their potential group stage draws. Remember though, all of the Scottish sides have still to conclude their play off ties at the time of writing. 


Optimistically, more than two Scottish sides can qualify for the group stages of Europe. We know Celtic and Rangers are guaranteed group stage football but having one or maybe even two more teams in with the Old Firm can only be beneficial. It would be the first time this has happened since the 2007/08 season. Thursday night is most likely the biggest one in Scottish football since the national team’s play off in Belgrade in November last year. 


Thank you for reading this article. If you have any comments, leave them down below. Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Josh_Footblog. 

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