Celtic will always have known they would not have it easy if they reach the Champions League - but they are now being projected to be bottom seeds.
A resounding 3-0 win over Austrian champions LASK last night puts Martin O'Neill's side in the driving seat to reach the league phase - if they can see the job through with next week's away leg.
They are 90 minutes away from reaching the competition proper and the riches that come with it, which they missed out on last season.
Obviously, there is still work to do but all those of a Celtic persuasion would be miffed if they failed to make it through from here.
🔵 UCL 2026/27 - projected league phase pots (as of 19 Aug) 📈 IN: 🇳🇴 Viking 📉 OUT: 🇭🇷 Dinamo Zagreb 👉 Full analysis of probabilities and scenarios in our Simulator pic.twitter.com/Tzjt8Pcn94
— Football Meets Data (@fmeetsdata) August 19, 2026
And, with all of the play-off ties at the half way stage, statisticians have been predicting how the pots for the league phase draw will look based on how the ties are sitting right now.
According to Football Meets Data, Celtic would likely be placed in Pot Four along with teams like Slavia Prague, Slovan Bratislava and Como.
Some of the bighitters they could draw from Pot One include Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Paris Saint Germain or Manchester City.
It doesn't get much easier in Pot Two, which has Borussia Dortmund, AS Roma and Manchester United.
Pot Three could throw up ties like Bodo/Glimt, Feyenoord or Napoli.
Read more
What we learned as Camilo Duran comes alive and Celtic take commanding lead vs LASK The uncomfortable Champions League reality Celtic must now overcome
Projected Champions League pots
Pot 1
- Bayern Munich
- Real Madrid
- Paris Saint-Germain
- Liverpool
- Internazionale
- Manchester City
- Arsenal
- FC Barcelona
- Atletico Madrid
Pot 2
- Borussia Dortmund
- AS Roma
- Sporting CP
- Aston Villa
- FC Porto
- Manchester United
- Club Brugge
- Real Betis
- PSV Eindhoven
Pot 3
- Feyenoord
- Lille OSC
- Olympique Lyon
- Bodo/Glimt
- Napoli
- RB Leipzig
- Villarreal
- Shakhtar Donetsk
- Galatasaray
Pot 4
- Celtic
- Slavia Praha
- Slovan Bratislava
- VfB Stuttgart
- AEK Athens
- Como
- RC Lens
- Viking
- Sabah FK
