The new season is going to start soon and we are all excited to see what Europe’s football is going to offer us this time. In the long time of the pandemic with its restrictions and lockdowns when most of us did not have the chance to witness the games together or even go to the stadium to enjoy the excitement and atmosphere. So it is no wonder that many are eagerly waiting for the season to start and get reunited with the people and teams they love.
It is no question that the world will be mainly looking at the World Cup 2022 in Qatar this year. Two British teams were able to qualify for the world’s biggest tournament. While England and Wales will face each other already in the group phase, the Scottish missed their entry. Still the Scottish teams are ready to go face their European opponents and many fans and gambling enthusiasts are already checking for the free bets in order to place bets on their favorite teams.
While the Scottish Premiership season has started already on the 30th of July along the EFL Championship as well as League One and Two, the final round of the Premier League, the Championship and the Scottish Premiership will be on the 12th and 13th of November, just shortly before the World Cup 2022 will start.
Scottish teams qualifying for Europe
This year is special. Of course, we know which are the best teams in Scotland but this time we can finally see them showing their skills in international competitions. After beating Rangers in the Scottish Cup final and finishing third in the Scottish Premiership, Hearts, Celtic, and Rangers are all assured spots in the group stage of European competition for the first time in 17 years.
For the fans of Scottish teams, who are eagerly checking the live news everyday, the first big question is which teams from Scotland will be competing on a European level. Not every team from Scotland will be able to play against other countries’ teams and many can already guess who will play and who not. Scotland has five teams that potentially make it to Europe this year.
In Scotland, the third- and fourth-placed teams, respectively, advance to the third and second qualifying rounds of the Europa Conference League. The Scottish Cup champions will receive a berth in the Europa League playoffs. The playoff position would go to the team in third, in this case Hearts, if the winners had already qualified for the Europa League or the Champions League, as Rangers had done.
Furthermore, Dundee United got a spot in the European Conference League as well by kicking out Ross County with a 2 – 1 on the last day of the season. The team of Motherwell, who had been smashed by the Celtics with a 6 – 0 has made it as well to qualify for the tournament.
The favorites: Celtic and Rangers
The Scott’s favorites, the Celtics, are finally back on a European level and probably highly motivated to compete with the other European teams. The way they fought their way into the tournament is proof of their motivation and brought tears into the eyes of many fans.
The beloved team from Glasgow won the Scottish Premiership in May against Dundee United one week later, and as a result, they will automatically go to the Champions League group stage the following year. This year the giants from Scotland are facing not the easiest of the groups in the Champions League.
The team has been showing a stable performance so far but still has a long way to go in order to win a title. While they did well against their opponents in the Scottish Premier League, they could not get around a draw against Rapid Vienna and Balckburn and lost their Champions League match against Real Madrid who they are going to face again in November. The Celtic are in a group together with Real Madrid, RB Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk. All of these teams are no child’s play.
The odds of winning against Real Madrid are pretty small, while the chances of beating the Ukrainian team Shakhtar Donetsk are way higher, according to the bookmakers.
Glasgow Rangers
The other favorite in the race is also from Glasgow and did a good job so far. The Glasgow Rangers were not able to defeat Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League final on May 18 in Seville with a draw ending their painful pursuit of just their second-ever European cup triumph. That loss was especially devastating since Rangers had a chance with two minutes of overtime remaining. Ryan Kent of Rangers had the Eintracht goal at his mercy, but Kevin Trapp of Germany made an incredible kick save.
They will also be able to join their Old Firm opponents in the Champions League group stage. Rangers’ second-place performance earns them a spot in the third qualifying round of the Champions League anyways, so even if they had lost in Spain, they would still have had a chance to compete in Europe’s Premier League.
As they compete in the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 2010, Rangers will be looking to replicate their best-ever showing. They were placed in Group A along with Napoli, Liverpool, and Ajax for the 2022–23 group stage. Also not an easy group.
After beating their countrymen Hearts and Blackpool in the final of the Scottish Cup with a 2-0 and a 2-1 they won against Westham just some days later with a stunning 3-1. In the first match of the third round of the Champions League they had to leave the field with hanging heads after being defeated by Union Saint-Gilloise, but surprisingly made it to pop back and win the second match against the same opponent. Their next match will be against Liverpool on the 4th of October, followed by Dunee, Neaples and Ajax.
