SCOTLAND remain on course to gain an automatic Champions League spot next season.

But the coefficient chase is still very much alive from nearby nations.

Rangers' stunning win against Borussia Dortmund last night has helped to strengthen Scotland's score in the coefficient table.

Despite Celtic losing at home to Bodo/Glimt, the victory from Giovanni van Bronckhorst's men has pushed Scotland up to ninth in the Uefa rankings.

This means that if the Scotland can maintain this spot by the end of the the current campaign, then the 2022/23 Premiership winners will be guaranteed a spot in the Champions League group stages.

But there's still plenty of work yet to be done by Rangers and Celtic if this is to be achieved.

Scotland began the campaign 11th in the rankings. 

This season's title winners have a great chance of going into the Champions League group stage next season, with that place only denied if the winners of this season's tournament haven't missed out on a place via their domestic league.

This will pot the Premiership winners around £35million in additional revenue from European football's top competition.

The real deal however remains a spot in the top ten of the coefficient rankings - as that offers an automatic spot regardless of any other factors.

There are 24 direct qualification places for the Champions League: the league winners from the top 10 countries by coefficient, the runners-up from the nations ranked one to six, and the third and fourth teams from Europe's top four leagues.

A further two places are reserved for the winners of the Champions League and the Europa League, unless they've already qualified in which case the place goes to the champions from the 11th ranked nation for the former, and the third place from the fifth ranked for the latter - which is what could benefit Scotland's top flight winners this year.

A win equates to two points in the coefficient, with one point handed out for a draw.

These numbers are divided by the number of teams that entered Uefa's three tournaments at the beginning of the season.

This means Rangers' win in Dortmund added 0.4 points to Scotland's coefficient score. 

This was enough for Scotland to jump above Russia into ninth spot.

The top 10 place is far from certain though, with Serbia still going strong in 11th place.