Finance guru: Celtic on course for ‘huge’ £17m windfall – and even bigger riches expected
Celtic are guaranteed a £17million windfall if they win the Scottish Premiership and secure automatic Champions League qualification.
So says finance expert Doctor Dan Plumley, speaking exclusively to Football Insider after Celtic took a giant step towards the title yesterday (3 April).
Ange Postecoglou’s side beat Rangers 2-1 at Ibrox to open up a six-point gap at the top of the table with just six matches of the season remaining.
Scotland’s Uefa coefficient guarantees this year’s champions automatic qualification for the group stages rather than going into the playoff rounds.
The coefficient system was one of a number of topics discussed at the European Club Association’s General Assembly in Vienna last week.
Per The Athletic on Monday (4 April), ECA chief Nasser Al-Khelaifi promise even greater revenues from a reboot of the Champions League format after 2024.
Plumley explains that Celtic would land a £17m payout before their European campaign in the traditional format in 2022-23 is even underway.
“It’s huge, of course,” the Sheffield Hallam University expert told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.
“The starting fees for the Europa League group stages, you’re guaranteed £3.4m.
“If you get to the Champions League group stages, you get at least £14m, maybe even £17m.
“In terms of being transformative, that’s a huge revenue increase. It looks like they are the ones who will finish on top of the pile.
“That’s why this title was even more important than other years, arguably. The jump from Europa to Champions League is so big.”
The winners of this year’s title race would see their coffers further boost by performance-related top-ups in the Champions League.
Celtic have not featured in the group stages of Europe’s premier club competition since 2017-18.
In other news, Celtic open talks with Gavin Strachan over new contract.