1. Euro stuff.

As this season's CL gets underway, Uefa have confirmed how the new Champions League format will work from the 24/25 season.

A lot is what was already known, but there are some new bits and pieces.

Here's another long, rambling set of tweets about it. 2. As you probably know by now, the CL group stage will change dramatically from 24/25. Gone will be the 8x groups of 4, replaced by what is now called the 'league phase' - one giant 36 team league table.

Yes, we're now up to 36 teams. 4 additional places have been added.

1. Euro stuff.

We now know the 24 teams who have qualified for the 23/24 CL groups via their league.

As both CL finalists have already qualified, the Ukrainian champions (Shakhtar) will also join the party.

The last automatic place will go to the EL winner - Roma or Seville. 2. This leaves the 6 qualifying places up for grabs at the start of next season.

Here are 2 projections of how the groups might look if the higher ranked teams qualify.

The 1st is based on Man City beating Inter to win the CL this season. The 2nd is based on Inter winning out.

1. Bank holiday Euro stuff.

This time it's a look at how our squad is shaping up for our next Champions League expedition. And also potential issues on that front in the future.

Keep in mind that the squad will change in the summer. It's an early look. 2. First up, how it all works.

We can Register two squads of players with UEFA - List A and List B.

List B is for the home grown youngsters. We'll be able to register any amount of players born after 1/1/2002 who have been with us for 2 years since their 15th birthday.

1. Euro stuff. Here's some gibberish about what's in store for Scottish clubs in 23/24.

Next season will be the last to use the current 32 team group stage format before moving to the new 36 team format in 24/25.

For Scotland, 23/24 will be much the same as 22/23. 2. We finished the 21/22 season 9th in the rankings. This means we'll have 5 teams in Europe again next season, with 3 guaranteed group stage football of some kind.

Our champion will again go straight into the CL group stage. Who wins the CL this year won't change that.

1. Brief explanation of why Celtic will get more CL money because of Olympiacos' defeat last night.

Money for CL group participation is given in 4 ways

- Fixed starting fee of €15.64M
- Performance payments for a win/draw
- Coefficient based amounts
- Share of TV Market Pool 2. The Olympiacos result only affects the coefficient amount. How it works...

UEFA has a pool of €600.6M for coefficient payments. This is divided into 528 equal shares, with each being worth ~€1.137M - currently around £950K.

1. How the CL groups for next season are shaping up. The teams in black qualify automatically. Those in red have to qualify.

If Madrid win the CL, Ajax will be Pot 1, Liverpool Pot 2 (1st picture).

If Liverpool win the CL, they will be Pot 1, Ajax Pot 2. (2nd picture) 2. Pot 3 might look slightly different. If Benfica don't qualify then a team will move up from Pot 4 - Rangers, if they qualify.

Pot 4 might look very different, as that's where most of the qualifiers will be. There aren't enough of them to move us up, so Celtic will be Pot 4.

1. Lot of talk kicking about this week about who has contributed the most coefficient points, and what needs to happen for the Scottish champion to get an automatic group place in next season's CL.

So here is another long, boring tweetfest about both.

As usual, expect gibberish 2. First up, next season.

Quick explanation time. The champions of the top 10 ranked nations qualifying for the CL groups automatically, along with another 14 non-champions.

Also given an automatic spot is the Champions League title holder, and the Europa League title holder.

1. UEFA prize money. Not a topic I've ever strayed into before. But I thought I'd take a look, as there has been some chat about the how the money available in the Europa and Conference Leagues isn't that different.

The question is, how much of a difference? 2. As with most things, when handing out cash prizes UEFA have created a ridiculously complicated system that favours the bigger countries.

For 21/22, UEFA have total prize money of €2.732 Billion

- €2.032B for the CL/Super Cup
- €465M for the EL
- €235M for the ECL

1. Olympiakos' loss tonight means that Scotland are guaranteed to be ranked in the top 15 for the 21/22 season.

It has a big impact on our European participation, meaning

- A 2nd Champions League place
- A place in the new look Europa League
- All teams starting in later rounds 2. For the Scottish champion it likely means starting in the 3rd qualifying round. 14th would guarantee QR3. 15th would guarantee starting in QR2, but being promoted to QR3 if the CL winner also qualifies for the group stage via their league - which is very likely.

1. Just as we're getting ready to go in Europe UEFA have dropped a new set of regulations to remind us all that it could be a fucked up season.

To start with, before each draw UEFA will publish known Covid travel restrictions, quarantine requirements, etc, between countries. 2. The clubs then have to confirm to UEFA that the list is accurate, or to provide an updated list. If they don't UEFA will use their list.

If a club doesn't inform UEFA of a restriction that then prevents a game going ahead the club that didn't inform UEFA will forfeit the tie.

1. Two weeks until the draws are made for the first two rounds of CL qualifying.

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. 2. The QR1 draw is on 9th August. Here's how the draw looks. Only the Romanian champion is still unknown.

QR1 is usually straighforward. The champ of Sweden, Belarus and Slovenia aren't usually potential opponents at this point, though. They're maybe the tougher draws.

1. With yesterday's UEFA meeting finally giving us some details about how the Champions League will look in 20/21, it's time to have a look at what Celtic might face in the qualifiers.

Warning. Contains a shit load of speculation to go alongside what we already know. 2. First up, a recap.

UEFA announced that for the 20/21 season

- the access list will stay the same.
- QR1-QR3 will be played as one-off games, with a 2 leg playoff.
- home or away will be luck of the draw

So Celtic will start in QR1 and play 5 games to reach the group stage.

1. There are reports that UEFA are considering shortening or scrapping qualifying for next season's Champions League. Some thoughts.

Yes, I do know there is a decent chance European competition will become impossible. Let's pretend otherwise.

Warning: Long and rambling ahead 2. First. There are a shitload of problems to overcome - not least football actually being played across the continent at the same time.

You also have to consider the timetables of the domestic leagues. The summer leagues are weeks behind schedule already.

1. More UEFA nonsense. There were reports today that our good pals at Copenhagen have submitted a plan for how the Champions League should be structured from 2024 onwards.

It follows on from talk last August that Ajax, Celtic and Copenhagen were working on a new CL format. 2. Currently, the structure is heavily tilted towards the top nations. The top 4 hoard 16 of 32 group stage places. 26 places are assigned automatically to the top 10/11 leagues. It leaves the rest of us fighting over 6 places - only 4 of which go to league champions.

1. Tonight's draw sees Celtic move up 2 places to 44th in the rankings, above both Dinamo Zagreb and Viktoria Plzen - which could be important for next year.

A win next week would see us overtake Copenhagen, Krasnodar, Anderlecht and Athletic Bilbao as well. 2. Combined with Rangers' result, Scotland has moved up 2 places to 14th. If both APOEL and Olympiakos go out next week - both lost at home tonight - a top 15 spot is almost certain. It would probably take Basel and Malmo to meet in the Europa final to prevent it at that point.

1. After tonight's results, Scotland has jumped another couple of places in the rankings. We're now in 16th place, just 0.125pts behind Cyprus who hang on in 15th. That's the equivalent of half of a group stage draw.

Had APOEL not scored an 88th minute winner today we'd be 15th. 2. Had we been 16th for this season Celtic would have started in QR2 of the CL, Rangers in QR3 of the EL, Kilmarnock in QR2, and Aberdeen in QR1.

The advantage to this is more of a summer break. The downside is that we'd miss those easy coefficient pts from the earlier rounds.

1. The draw for QR3 in the CL will take place at 11am on Monday. The teams Celtic can face if we beat Nomme Kalju are attached.

PAOK would be the one to avoid, I think. Valletta/Ferencvaros looks the best bet on paper - although the Hungarians beat Ludogorets home and away. 2. Celtic will also be entered into the EL QR3 draw (Champions Route) at 11.20am. This is who we would face in the event of a Killie like disaster against Nomme Kalju.

As you can see, we could draw Astana, Ludogorets, Piast Gliwice. Or even FK Sarajevo again.

1. UEFA have published the groups for tomorrows CL draw. Celtic will play one of the following in QR1.

Valletta (Malta)
FK Sarajevo (Bosnia)
Sutjeska (Montenegro)
Partizani (Albania)
Saburtalo Tbilisi (Georgia)

Here's a quick summary of each, blagged from last nights tweets. 2. Valletta [#233]

Have won 6 Maltese titles this decade, but only 8 European ties in their history - never two in the same year. Their only recent wins are against teams from the Faroes, San Marino and Albania.

We've neve met before. Our last Maltese opponents were in 1971.

1. More European stuff. This one can be thought of as the "what if it all goes wrong" thread.

As you know, Celtic will have to play 4 qualifying rounds to reach the group stage of the CL. But what happens if we're knocked out along the way? 2. First thing to know is that all teams eliminated from CL qualifying get a 2nd chance in the EL. I've attached an image showing how that works.

The EL has two qualifying paths - one for national champions, and one for everyone else.