While sport ground to a halt during the coronavirus pandemic, as normality returns, many football fans are once again beginning to think about the season ahead and the prospect of European football.
Celtic are set to once again try and seek qualification to the top table of European football in the UEFA Champions League.
Neil Lennon’s side will need to face four treacherous qualifying rounds with the first three ties being one-off contests due to the revised calendar following the COVID-19 pandemic.
READ MORE: Celtic reportedly back proposal for Champions League reform
However, the Scottish champions look set to be seeded during the qualifying run and certainly will be for the first round draw on August 8th.
Expert @moravcik67 explained that "Celtic are almost certain to be seeded in all 4 rounds. To be unseeded Basel would need to overturn an 8pt gap with 3 games left in Switzerland. That's only the 1st of 3 things that needs to happen."
1. Two weeks until the draws are made for the first two rounds of CL qualifying.
— Moravcik67 (@Moravcik67_) July 24, 2020
Celtic are almost certain to be seeded in all 4 rounds. To be unseeded Basel would need to overturn an 8pt gap with 3 games left in Switzerland. That's only the 1st of 3 things that needs to happen.
Who could Celtic face in the 1st Champions League Qualifying round?
Celtic could also be drawn against the winner of the Champions League preliminary round. The preliminary round of the Champions League is in the form of a mini-tournament. This mini-tournament at the start of August consists of 3 matches: 2 semi-finals and a final.
The winner of the preliminary round is seeded in the 1st qualifying round by the maximum coefficient of all teams in the preliminary round. However, the winner is not yet known so one of Linfield, Inter Club d'Escaldes FC Drita or SP Tre Fiori could make up the final unseeded place.
READ MORE: Celtic star Callum McGregor fired up for Champions League bid after ‘nice taste’ against PSG
Celtic will not know who they face as the draw for the 1st qualifying round is made before the final outcome of the preliminary round is known.
Celtic could be drawn against:
- Djurgårdens IF
- Buducnost Podgorica
- Flora Tallinn
- Dynamo Brest
- Riga FC
- Connah's Quay
- KI Klaksvik
- Europa FC
- NK Celje
- Ararat-Armenia
- KuPS Kuopio
- KR Reykjavik
- KF Tirana
- Sileks Kratovo
- Floriana
- Preliminary round winner
If Celtic are successful in their first-round match, the likes of Slovan Bratislava, Dundalk, FK Sarajevo and Dinamo Tbilisi could lie ahead in qualifying round 2. Red Star Belgrade, Qarabag and Legia Warsaw could also be unseeded in qualifying round 3.
All of the above is subject to change as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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