European hopes aided by removal of Russia

Scotland’s champions will win a ticket to the Champions League group stage as well as lifting this season’s cinch Premiership trophy, UEFA has confirmed.

Europe’s governing body has barred Russian clubs from participation in next season’s competitions, continuing their current continent-wide suspension over the invasion of Ukraine.

It means the SPFL champions – likely to be Celtic with Ange Postecoglou’s, inset, team leading by six points with three games to play – will gain straight access, regardless of the outcome in this season’s competition.

Villarreal's progress in the top tournament carried a risk for Scotland’s automatic group stage hopes, which would have been revoked and passed to the Spanish side in the event they won the trophy and not qualified to defend it via La Liga.

However, the additional element of jeopardy hanging over the unlikely win, with Unai Emery’s side 2-0 down to Liverpool in the semifinal, has been definitively wiped by UEFA’S decision.

Probable Premiership runners-up Rangers’ qualification burden is also reduced by a third – if it is needed at all.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side can earn their own direct pass by winning this season’s Europa League, but if not, their path to the group stage has lessened by Russia’s removal, moving the SPFL up the co-efficent table. The league runnersup will enter the third qualification stage, rather than the second, placing them two rounds and 360 minutes from the promised land. Hearts’ path to the group stages of either the Europa League or Conference remains unchanged by the re-shuffle, with Robbie Neilson’s team still guaranteed European football until December through the Europa League play-off, or an elimination parachute into the Conference groups.

Scotland’s fourth and fifth league finishers will also be granted a qualifier at the second and third preliminary stages of the Conference.

Russianclubswerebanned from European competition earlier this year over the actions of the country’s armed forces in Ukraine. It saw Spartak Moscow removed from the Europa League and Rangers’ eventual semi-final opponents RB Leipzig given a bye to the quarter-final.