Champions Celtic have enjoyed direct qualification to the group or league phase of the Champions League for the past three seasons.
Manager Brendan Rodgers has made clear what a difference it made to avoid the qualifiers, with more guaranteed money to spend and pre-season preparations less rushed.
That guaranteed gravy train ends from next season. Scotland’s champions – certain to be Celtic again – will enter in the play-off round, and so will need to win one tie to reach the 36-team league phase.
That two-leg affair will come against a fellow domestic champion from countries ranked below Scotland in the coefficient standings for next season, for example Denmark, Serbia, or Greece.
There is still a way the Scottish champions could sneak into the league phase directly, though.
If the Champions League winner has already qualified via their domestic league, then their place goes to the domestic champion with the best five-year coefficient who has not already qualified directly.
Celtic are not in a great position to claim this as they are ranked outside of the top 50, though Rangers would have been be as they are ranked 26th because of their Europa League successes.
The Premiership winners have the consolation prize of a Europa League place should they fail in the play-off round.
Meanwhile, it gets worse for the Premiership runners-up too. Rangers started in the third round of qualifying this term, before losing in the play-off round to Dynamo Kyiv.
Round two is now the starting point, so in all likelihood Rangers would have to negotiate three rounds of qualifying to reach the Champions League.
As long as they win one tie, though, a Europa League place is assured.
Of course, Rangers are still in with a shout in this season’s Europa League and the winners of that competition are rewarded with a Champions League spot.
