Scotland could slip a place in UEFA 's coefficient ranking on Thursday night with Belgium poised to move up the table.
It's been a chastening campaign on the continent for Premiership sides with Celtic, Rangers and Hearts all likely to bow out out of the Champions League and Europa Conference League, respectively. Celtic and Rangers have found life tough at the top in UEFA's flagship competition. Ange Postecoglou's side, although competitive across their five matches so far, have already bowed out of Europe for the season, while their Ibrox rivals require a minor miracle to salvage a place in the Europa League.
More likely than the five-goal win required over Ajax next week is the proposition they could finish the campaign as the worst-ever group stage team. Giovanni van Bronckhorst's team have lost all five of their matches and sit on -19 goal difference with one left to play. Hearts, meanwhile, must win their last two games to stand any chance of remaining in the Conference League beyond Christmas, with Fiorentina very much in the driving seat to progress alongside Istanbul Basaksehir.
A lack of wins means a lack of coefficient points, which puts places in the rankings at constant risk. A lowly average of just 3.1 from Scottish clubs, including Dundee United and Motherwell in qualifying, is so far the worst return since the 2011/12 season.
Scotland currently sits eighth in the UEFA rankings but that spot could be given up to the Belgians in just a few hours' time. Union Saint-Gilliose, defeated by Rangers in Champions League qualifying, can win their Europa League group by beating Molde this evening and that would see Belgium (currently 35.400 and having amassed 7.400 already this season) earn the necessary points to confirm they will move ahead of Scotland (36.000).
But while it's always disheartening to see hard-earned coefficient progress undone, Scotland's place in the top 10 (and the qualifications benefits we've enjoyed this season) will remain intact for now. That being said, 10th-placed Austria aren't too far adrift on 33.000 points.
