Currently holding seeded positions (9th to 16th) for the play-off round at the midway stage of the league phase, Celtic, Rangers, and Hearts are all still in a solid position to advance to the knockout stages of their respective championships. With seven points from four games, Celtic is tied with Manchester City for 15th place in the Champions League and one point ahead of Real Madrid. Additionally, they have attractive remaining schedules that include trips to Dinamo Zagreb and Aston Villa as well as home games against Club Brugge and Young Boys. With 12–13 points anticipated to be needed to clinch seeded status, one more victory would almost ensure the top 24 finish needed for the knockout round. It will require 15–16 points.

Rangers, who have seven points from their first four games and are currently in 10th place in the Europa League standings, will have a difficult schedule that includes away games against Nice and Manchester United, hosting Tottenham at Ibrox, and finishing at home against Union Saint-Gilloise. If Philippe Clement’s team finishes between 17th and 24th, with 11–12 points presumably needed for a seeded position (9th to 16th), they could go to the knockout phase, just like Celtic, with one more victory or perhaps two draws.

In the meantime, Hearts’ first loss of the season at Tynecastle caused them to fall from sixth to 12th place in the Conference League. However, Neil Critchley’s team still has a good chance of qualifying thanks to their two early victories over Dinamo Minsk and Omomoia. This is provided they earn at least one point from their final three games, which include away games against Cercle Brugge and Copenhagen and home games against Moldovan minnows Petrocub, who are currently in 36th and last place. Given that a seeded knockout spot is expected to require 9–10 points, Hearts’ current six-point total might even be sufficient to qualify, depending on goal differential.

Scotland’s all-important UEFA coefficient is also looking much healthier than it was at the start of the campaign when the nation had slumped to a lowly 17th in the rankings. Such a position would have resulted in the number of Scottish sides entering European competition dropping from five to four at the end of next season with each facing several qualifying rounds with no automatic group stage places on offer. However, the results of Celtic, Rangers and Hearts so far this campaign have taken Scotland up from 17th to 13th in the rankings. Celtic added 0.4 points this week for the win over Leipzig, while Rangers contributed 0.2 with their draw in Greece, taking the overall Scottish tally up from 4.4 to 5 points, now just 1.7 points behind 12th placed Austria in the battle to secure guaranteed European group stage football for the Premiership champions and next season’s Scottish Cup winners.

In terms of prize money, only Celtic and Rangers boosted their bank balances this week with no pay-out given to Hearts for their defeat to Heidenheim. The Hoops’ win over Leipzig earned them another €2.1m taking their total Champions League earnings to date over the €30m mark, not including ticket sales. Rangers draw in Greece earned them €150,000 taking their total Europa League earnings to date, minus ticket sales, over the €12m mark. Hearts earnings so far in the Conference League stand at around €5.5million in prize money before ticket sales