Champions League blow for Scottish clubs
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Champions League blow for Scottish clubs
Europa League results mean Scotland will lose one of its two Champions League places from the 2011-12 season.
Good results for Anderlecht and Standard Liege mean that Belgium has leapfrogged Scotland into 15th position in Uefa's co-efficient ranking table.
Standard beat Red Bull Salzburg, while Anderlecht drew with Athletic Bilbao.
Falling to 16th place also means that the 2010-11 SPL champions face three qualifying rounds to qualify for the lucrative Champions League group stage.
But Champions league restructuring means the qualifying matches will be against champions from smaller European nations rather than runners-up or third- and fourth-placed sides from larger countries.
However, in a week where the publication of Old Firm financial figures laid bare the importance of Champions League qualification to both clubs, the loss of a place in Europe's premier club competition is a potential major blow.
Next season, both the SPL winners and runners-up are expected to enter the Champions League at the third qualifying round, with a further play-off round to be negotiated before the group stage.
An SPL spokesman said: "Our clubs are sorted for next season.
"It's for the season after that that Belgium are now above us."
bbc
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Should've set it that that way to save time for sub-standard clubs
Now its time for scottish clubs to buck up on their standards