Last Tuesday, Rangers lost 2-0 at home to Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv. That second-leg defeat saw them exit the Champions League at the 3rd Qualifying Round, going down 3-1 on aggregate and dropping into the Europa League. They were reduced to the same fate last term too, and with Celtic already qualified for the highly lucrative league phase of the revamped UEFA Champions League (UCL), this will have big financial implications for the club.
Their chances of stopping their great rivals from claiming a fourth consecutive Scottish title will be impacted and, more broadly, it will hurt them in the years ahead. Last season they advanced one round further but were eliminated in the Champions League play-off game, against PSV Eindhoven. The last time they made it into the group phase of the competition came back in 2022/23.
That year they were drawn in a very tough group, alongside Liverpool, Napoli and Ajax. Things did not go well for the Scottish giants. They lost all six games, including a 7-1 defeat by Liverpool, and overall their goal record was scored two, conceded 22! But let us now take a wider look at how Rangers have got on in the Champions League, including in its former guise as the European Cup.
Have Rangers Ever Won the Champions League?
The Teddy Bears have 55 league titles, 34 Scottish Cups and 28 League Cups to their name but they have never won the UCL. Their sole major European trophy was the 1972 European Cup Winners’ Cup, a tournament that no longer exists, having been merged into the Europa League. They have twice been runner-up in that newer competition, losing the final in 2008 and 2022. However, they have never made the final of the UCL/European Cup.
Best Performances
Rangers have not made the last two but they have made it as far as the final four in the UCL. Way back in 1959/60, they only finished third in their domestic league but having won the title the season before were entered into the European Cup as it was back then.
They had to play in the preliminary round, where they beat Belgian side Anderlecht home and away, before edging past Cervena Hviezda Bratislava 5-4 on aggregate in the next round. That took them into the quarters, where they needed a play-off game to get past Sparta Rotterdam. Back then if the scores were level on aggregate after the two games, a third fixture was played at a neutral venue!
In the semis they played Eintracht Frankfurt, with Real Madrid and Barca meeting in the other game. The Germans proved far too good for Rangers though, winning 6-1 in Frankfurt and 6-3 at Ibrox for a huge 12-4 aggregate result. The Germans would go on to lose one of the classic European finals 7-3 to the rampant Real team of the era.
Four-Time Quarter Finalists
The Gers have also made it to the last eight on four occasions, doing so twice in the 1960s, once in the 1970s and once in the 1980s. As we can see, there is something of a trend here, with Rangers’ best days, certainly on a continental stage, behind them, although their two Europa League finals this century suggest that might not quite be the whole truth.
In 1964/65 Rangers beat Red Star Belgrade and Rapid Wien, before losing in the quarters to Inter 3-2 on aggregate. The Italians went on to lift the trophy that year, so it was very much a case of what might have been. In 1961/62 they had also made the last eight, this time being edged out by Belgians Standard Liege, 4-3 over two legs.
The club’s next run of note came more recently, albeit it was now over 40 years ago. In the 1978/79 campaign Rangers eliminated Italian giants Juventus in the first round. They lost the first leg 1-0 but won the return on home soil 2-0 to advance. Next they got past Dutch outfit PSV, 3-2, before losing in the quarters to Koln. The Germans won 2-1 on aggregate but were then eliminated by eventual champions Nottingham Forest in the semis.
Rangers’ fourth, and, sad to say, possibly last, quarter final appearance came in 1987/88. This was a golden era for the club, with Graeme Souness at the helm. The fiery ex-Liverpool player guided the Teddy Bears to a lot of success, and in the European Cup they got the better of recent masters Dynamo Kyiv, as well as Polish side Gornik Zabrze. They were pipped 3-2 in the quarters though, Steaua Bucuresti, a very strong team at that time, knocking them out.
Player Stats
In that 1987/88 campaign Rangers legend and modern commentary hero Ally McCoist bagged four goals. That made him the competition’s joint-highest scorer, along with six others. McCoist is the club’s leading scorer in the European Cup/UCL overall too, his 18 goals putting him comfortably clear of three others in second with seven apiece.
The avuncular former striker is also second on the club’s list of appearance makers in the competition. He played 37 times, though Barry Ferguson leads the way on that front with 44 UCL outings.
Overall Record
| Played | Won | Drawn | Lost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 178 | 65 | 44 | 69 |
Overall Rangers have appeared in the Champions League on 34 occasions (seasons). They have played 178 games, winning 65 (37%) of these. They have lost 69 times, drawing on 44 occasions. They have scored 247 goals, conceding 252.
These stats are correct following their early elimination in the 2024/25 campaign. Looking at their performances in general, Rangers have tended to be knocked out in the earliest phases of the competition. 2005/06 was the last time they made it past the group phase, meaning they have been eliminated before the knockout rounds in their last eight UCL campaigns.
The structure/format, and nature of the rounds has changed many times over the years. However, in general it is fair to say that Rangers have been knocked out in what equates to the first or second round proper, or earlier, the vast majority of the time.