Kieran Maguire issues ‘£150m’ reveal after Uefa news that’s ‘enormous’ for Celtic
Up to £150million prize money will be available from the new-look Champions League – and the tournament will be “enormous” for Celtic.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the plans to overhaul the competition from 2024.
The Champions League will grow from 32 to 36 teams and the total number of matches will nearly double as a result.
The Times reported last Friday (21 January) that Uefa are expecting income to rise by 40 per cent to more than £4billion.
Celtic posted a profit of £17.3million the last time they qualified for the Champions League group stages in 2017018.
And if Scotland can maintain their Uefa coefficient, two teams will be able to qualify for Europe’s premier competition via the Scottish Premiership.
Maguire analyses just how transformative the Champions League revamp could be for the Hoops’ bottom line.
“This would instantly increase the number of fixtures,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“The winners would likely generate around £150m in prize money alone.
“In prize money, you get €2.7m for every win, that would up to around €3.8m. Even the figures for a draw would go up to €1.3m euros.
“Bizarrely, all the money Uefa save in prize money for a draw go into a pool and is distributed aong the winners.
“The aim is to reduce the number of dead rubbers. So yes, it would, be enormously significant for Celtic.”
Celtic were knocked out of the Europa League at the group stages this term.
They face Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt in the play-offs for the Europa Conference League.
In other news, Frank McAvennie suggests “really nasty” Yosuke Ideguchi injury is major “blow” to Celtic.