Privileged heading into final (8)
I believe the answer is:
entitled
'privileged' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'heading into final' is the wordplay.
'heading' becomes 'title' (title is a kind of heading).
'into' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'final' becomes 'end' (synonyms).
'title' placed within 'end' is 'ENTITLED'.
(Other definitions for entitled that I've seen before include "Authorised; bearing the name" , "Given right - named" , "Named; allowed" , "Qualified for by right" , "Authorized" .)