Revealed: Celtic land £14.5m windfall...and there's more cash to come
Celtic are set for a major Europa League windfall of around £14.5million, Football Insider can reveal.
The Scottish champions may have failed to reach the Champions League for a second consecutive year but their impressive campaign in Europe's secondary competition has offered excellent compensation.
Uefa's Europa League distribution data shows that Celtic have already earned £2.5m from their group stage allocation and £1m for progressing through three Champions League qualification rounds.
The club's excellent performances in their five group stage matches, which have yielded four wins and a draw, has also netted £2.1m and secured £2.1m from their Uefa co-efficient ranking with one more match still to come.
By qualifying for the knockout stages, Celtic have landed a £900,000 bonus as well as a further bonus of £850,000 for topping their group against Rennes, Lazio and Cluj.
In addition to the guaranteed £9.5m sum, a Celtic source has told Football Insider that Scotland's richest club expect to pocket a further £5m from the Scottish clubs' share of the TV pool as well as matchday, commercial and merchandise income.
There have been bumper attendance at 60,000 Parkhead for the group stages this season, as well as in the Champions League qualifiers.
There is set to be plenty more cash to come if Neil Lennon's side can progress through the stages of the Europa League when the competition returns in February.
Celtic earned around £30million from the Champions League in each of the first two seasons in which Brendan Rodgers was in charge.
The Europa League is not quite in the same league as a moneyspinner, but the club are still benefiting considerably.