Rangers outperform Celtic in Scottish coefficient ranking as Ibrox side heralded among top 10 in Europe

Logic would suggest that a Rangers side who were knocked out of the Scottish Cup by Queen's Park on home soil would have difficulty negotiating a two-legged European tie against a Jose Mourinho outfit.

But this Rangers team defies all reason when it comes to the contrast between domestic and European results as they now prepare to meet Atletico Bilbao for a place in the semi-finals next month.

The victory over Fenerbahce - secured after extra-time and penalties after a 2-0 defeat at Ibrox wiped out a 3-1 win in Turkey the previous week - is only the eighth occasion a Scottish club has reached this stage of European competition in the last 40 years.

It is, however, the second time in four seasons that the Govan side have made it this far in the Europa League with their memorable run during the 2021-22 campaign taking them all the way to the final in Seville where they lost to Eintracht Frankfurt on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

Rangers have also reached the last 16 three times over the past five seasons which makes them by far and away the largest contributer to the Scottish coefficient over that period.

The UEFA coefficient rankings are used to determine how many European representatives each country receive and how many qualifiers are required to reach the league phase of the respective competitions.

Celtic have benefited from Scotland's high coefficient ranking to enjoy direct access to the Champions League over the past three seasons, while Aberdeen and Hearts have also played in the Conference League group stages as a result of the Scottish coefficient ranking, in large part thanks to Rangers.

Indeed, a table shared on social media platform X by Swiss Football Data (@swissfootdata) places the Ibrox club among the top 10 clubs in Europe for coefficient ranking points over the past five years.

It shows that Rangers have earned 17.825 points towards the Scottish coefficient since season 2021-22 placing them eighth in the overall UEFA ranking over that time period.

Real Madrid top the standings, with Manchester City, GNK Dinamo, Bodo/Glimt, Bayern Munich, Benfica and Paris Saint-German the only clubs to sit above Rangers in this metric.

Rangers have also significantly outperformed Celtic in terms of coefficient points over the past five seasons with the Parkhead side ranked down in 57th place with a contribution of 9.9 points towards the Scottish total - 7.925 points less than Rangers.

Celtic have even fallen below their Old Firm rivals when it comes to coefficient points for the current campaign despite making it through to the knockout stages of the Champions League.

In reaching the play-off round, where they were knocked out by Bayern Munich, Celtic added 3.4 points to the Scottish coefficient while Rangers’ run to the last eight of the Europa League has earned 3.75 towards the country’s total this term.

Despite this, Scotland has slid down the coefficient rankings meaning that this season's Scottish champions - likely to be Celtic due to their 16-point advantage at the top of the Scottish Premiership with nine matches remaining - will need to negotiate a play-off round before reaching the Champions League proper.

Also, this season is set to be the final campaign where the Scottish Cup winners/third place team is guaranteed direct entry to the Conference League.