Rangers are ranked lowest by Ibrox due of Champions League suffering, whereas Celtic leads Rangers in the official FIFA Euro standings.

According to FIFA’s official qualification table for the Club World Cup, Celtic is ranked 37th in Europe, whereas Rangers, despite their strong Europa League performance, is tied for last place.

The Hoops finished the European season with just one victory, sending them sailing out of the Champions League. It was another season to forget. However, it was enough to propel them up the FIFA rankings as it was the first group stage triumph achieved by a Scottish team in UEFA’s top club competition since their victory against Anderlecht in 2017.

Beginning the following year, the Club World Cup will be redesigned and will now occur four times a year instead of annually. Twelve months before the worldwide World Cup in the USA, Canada, and Mexico, the 2025 edition will take place in June in the United States.

Under the new 32-team structure, Europe will field 12 teams, with three of those berths going to the three previous winners—Chelsea, Real Madrid, and Manchester City.

The remaining nine spaces are decided via a qualification table that solely considers the Champions League performance from 2021 to 2024; the UEFA coefficient, the Europa League, or the Conference League are not taken into consideration. According to FIFA’s most recent rankings, Bayern, PSG, Inter, Porto, and Benfica have all qualified. This means that four spots are still up for grabs, with Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, and RB Salzburg now holding those spots.

Teams receive four points for reaching the group stage of the Champions League, two points for winning a match, one point for a draw, and five points for advancing to the knockout stages, plus an additional point for each stage they reach after that.

Regretfully, Scottish teams hoping to compete in the 2025 competition will have to withdraw due to that qualification criteria. Celtic presently has 13 points; eight come from their two qualifying runs, and five more come from their performances. That falls well short of Salzburg’s 40, which is now the lowest-ranked team that can qualify.

Celtic now sits 37th in the standings, tied with Zenit St Petersburg for the fewest points and above of teams like RC Lens and Dynamo Kiev. Rangers, their rivals, have only four points, which they earned by making it to the group stage the previous year. They are now tied for last place with Besiktas among the qualified teams.