CELTIC and Rangers have been handed a major Champions League boost as UEFA confirmed Russian clubs won't feature in next season's European competitions.
The governing body announced Russian club sides won't feature in the Champions League, Europa League or Europa Conference League next term.
The ruling means the Scottish Premiership victors will advance automatically to the group stage of the Champions League competition.
The second-place team will go into the third qualifying round of the League Path in Champions League qualification instead of the second round after the ruling. It takes their journey to possible group stage qualification from six matches to four.
Celtic are currently on the verge of sealing a Scottish Premiership triumph as they sit six points clear over Rangers at the top of the table with three games left.
If Ange Postecoglou's side go onto claim the league title then it'll guarantee group stage football at Celtic Park next term.
And should the table remain the same it'd be Rangers heading into the third qualifying round for the Champions League.
Hearts go into the Play-Off round of Europa League qualification next season, and have group stage football guaranteed either if they win to advance in the competition or crash out and fall into the Conference League groups.
Scotland's other European spots are positioned as a Europa Conference League third qualifying round for the third-placed team and a second qualifying round position fro the fourth-placed team in the Scottish Premiership.
However, due to Hearts' qualification through their run to the Scottish Cup final those spots are set to trcikle down to the fourth and fifth placed sides in the Scottish Premiership.
UEFA confirmed today: "Russia will not participate in this summer's UEFA Women's EURO 2022.
"Portugal, the opponent defeated by Russia in the qualifying play-offs, will now participate in Group C.
"Additionally, Russian teams will not participate in UEFA club competitions next season.
"The on-going suspension of Russian teams and clubs also impacts other competitions, including the Nations League, Under-21 EURO, Women's World Cup qualifying, youth and futsal tournaments."
A statement on the UEFA website added: "Further to its 28 February 2022 decision to suspend all Russian representative teams and clubs from participating in UEFA competition matches until further notice, the UEFA Executive Committee today took a series of decisions relating to the implications of that decision for its upcoming competitions, in order to ensure their smooth staging in a safe and secure environment for all those concerned."
