6 out of 576 .. that’s how many have made groups from round 1

Gers and Saints face hell to reach big time

RANGERS and St Johnstone face a herculean task to reach the Europa League groups following Monday’s draw – as just six teams out of a staggering total of 576 clubs have reached that stage from the first qualifying round.

The Ibrox side are gearing up for an eagerly-anticipated return to European competition after a six-year absence.

And perennial continental qualifiers Saints are also in the hat in Switzerland for the draw, with Aberdeen getting a bye to the second qualifying round.

Rangers and St Johnstone would have to negotiate four rounds of ties to reach the group stages – three qualifying rounds and a play-off.

But history proves it’s near impossible to go all the way from the first qualifying rounds to the league contest.

UEFA have heavily favoured the teams from the big nations who only have to play a play-off round, so it would take an epic run of results to get past the four hurdles.

Last season, there were 96 teams who entered at the first qualifying round but only Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Qabala made it through to the groups.

In 2015-16, a bumper 102 sides entered and only Azerbaijani specialists Qabala and Rosenborg reached the promised land.

In the eight-year history of the Europa League and its qualifying rounds only Fulham in 2011-12, Twente Enschede in 2012-13 and Tromso in 2013-14 have also made it from the first round to the groups.

Rosenborg and Qabala have remarkably managed it twice from a combined entry of 576 teams since the competition’s inception in 2009-10.

This season, there will be 100 teams in the first qualifying round. But it’s massively odds-on that very few of them will line up at the start of the group stage in September. Rangers and St Johnstone have their work cut out for them.