The play-off round second leg defeat condemned Rangers to a 7-3 aggregate scoreline and means Michael Beale’s side will now drop into Europa League – the draw for which is made on Friday – where Aberdeen could join them if they beat BK Hacken at Pittodrie on Thursday.

The draw for the Champions League group stages will see Celtic placed among the lowest seeds in pot four, while Rangers are likely to be ranked in pot two for the Europa League, the tournament they reached the final of in 2022 before losing to Eintracht Frankfurt on penalties.

Celtic gained direct entry to the Champions League group stages for the second season running courtesy of winning last season’s Scottish Premiership. This time last year, they were drawn alongside Real Madrid, RB Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk but finished bottom of the group after posting just two points.

Brendan Rodgers’ side will hope to fare better this time around with either progress to the last 16 by finishing inside the top two, or claiming third place and a parachute into the Europa League knock-out round play-offs.

When is the Champions League draw?

The draw for the group stages takes place on Thursday, August 31, 2023 at 5pm BST.

How to watch the draw

The draw will be streamed live on UEFA.com. The draw will also be broadcast live on subscription TV channel TNT Sports 1 (Sky channel 410, Virgin channel 527) with coverage starting from 4.45pm.

Which teams have qualifed for the Champions League

Following the conclusion of Wednesday’s play-off round second legs, the 32 teams who have qualfied for the Champions League group stages have now been confirmed as follows:

POT 1

Manchester City
Sevilla
Barcelona
Napoli
Bayern Munich
Paris Saint-Germain
Benfica
Feyenoord

POT 2

Real Madrid
Manchester United
Internazionale
Borussia Dortmund
Atletico Madrid
RB Leipzig
FC Porto
Arsenal

POT 3

Shakhtar Donetsk
FC Salzburg
AC Milan
Braga
PSV Eindhoven
Lazio
Red Star Belgrade
FC Copenhagen

POT 4

Young Boys
Real Sociedad
Galatasaray
Celtic
Newcastle United
Union Berlin
Antwerp
Lens

When does the group stages start?

The first round of Champions League fixtures are scheduled for September 19 and 20.