Exclusive: Celtic land guaranteed £38m windfall – official documents reveal
Celtic have earned a guaranteed £38million after securing their place in the Champions League knockout round play-offs, sources have told Football Insider.
The Scottish giants beat Swiss champions Young Boys 1-0 on Wednesday (22 January), courtesy of a late own goal from Loris Benito in a tense encounter at Celtic Park.
Brendan Rodgers’s side have booked their place in the play-off round after earning 12 points from their opening seven matches.
Celtic still have to travel across the border to face Aston Villa in their final game of the revamped league-phase of the competition.
A positive result at Villa Park could secure the Glasgow side a top-16 finish and ensure they will play at home in the second leg of the play-offs.
They currently sit 18th in the table but are level on points with Real Madrid in 16th.
Celtic to blow Rangers out of the water after Europe success
As per official Uefa documents released in March last year, each team will earn a guaranteed £16million for playing in the Champions League this season.
They are also in line for extra cash payments under the governing body’s new value pillar system, which is split into European and non-European segments based on their coefficient ranking and the market pool.
Clubs are awarded £1.8million for each win and £583,000 for a draw in the league phase, meaning Celtic have banked just over £7.1million from their fixtures.
They have also earned a further £830,000 for securing their spot in the play-off round.
In a further incentive to finish as high up the table as possible, each team will be paid an amount based on their individual ranking after the eight group stage games.
The bottom side will earn £229,000, while a place in the top 24 is worth at least £3million.
Sources have told Football Insider that takes Celtic’s total guaranteed prize money so far to around £38.2million, including the payments from the value pillar system.
If the Scottish champions progress through the play-off round and into the last 16, that would be worth a further £9.2million to them.
They are in line to earn significantly more than Rangers in Europe this season after Football Insider revealed on 25 September a place in the knockout rounds of the Europa League is only likely to be worth around £12million for the Ibrox club.
Celtic are also firmly in control of proceedings domestically after building up a 13-point lead over their Old Firm rivals at the top of the Scottish Premiership table.
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