SNS GroupRangers will be in Pot 1 for Friday’s Europa League draw after Dinamo Zagreb were knocked out at the playoff stage.
The Ibrox club will now avoid a potential group stage encounter with last season’s Champions League opponents Ajax and Liverpool who are favourites for the competition.
They also now can’t be drawn against Conference League champions West Ham, Serie A sides Roma and Atalanta, Villarreal or Bayer Leverkusen in the groups.
It comes after Sparta Prague beat Zagreb 4-1 on Thursday to secure a 5-4 aggregate win and relegate the Croatian side to the Conference League.
Rangers dropped to the continent’s second tier competition after suffering a 7-3 aggregate defeat to PSV.
Despite a 2-2 draw at Ibrox the Dutch side ran out 5-1 winners in the Netherlands on Wednesday to take their place among the big boys in the Champions League group stages.
Celtic went straight in to the groups and were drawn against Feyenoord, Lazio and Atletico Madrid in Thursday’s draw.
Rangers return to the Europa League for the first time since going all the way to final in 2022.
The draw for the group stages will take place at midday on Friday.
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