AFTER an absence of 12 years Rangers will finally get to dine at European football’s top table after defeating PSV Eindhoven in their Champions League play-off.
The Ibrox club are guaranteed at least six lucrative fixtures in the group stage that will not only bring prestige and glamour but huge financial rewards.
Let’s take a closer look at just how much money Rangers can expect to make from their involvement.
Firstly, when it comes to UEFA competitions there are five main income streams to consider: participation payments, the coefficient share, TV money, matchday income and prize money. Rangers will be paid a guaranteed €15.64m (£13.2) for merely qualifying for the group stages.
The coefficient share is slightly more complicated and is a payment to clubs based on their ten-year co-efficient ranking - which for Rangers is lower than their current season rank.
In this season's UEFA co-efficient rankings Rangers are 15th following the incredible run to the Europa League final in Seville last term, but the club sit 66th in the 10-year table due to not competing in Europe for five of those years incorporated. It means Rangers will receive a payment in order of where their ten-year ranking places compared with the other clubs in the group stage. Given that Rangers have advanced past PSV then a payment between £960,000 and £3.8m will be received.
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Another major factor in European revenue is TV money paid to clubs competing. UEFA calculate this through the market pool which states the money is to be distributed among the clubs based on the size of their television market. What we know is that Scotland is included in the market pool for the whole UK, with BT Sport holding exclusive rights to the matches.
The Premiership share is based on Scotland’s population relative to the other UK nations, which is expected to be around 10 per cent of the money received by English Premier League sides.
The Champions League money allocated to the English teams last season was calculated at around €68m (£57m), so just under £6m would go to Scotland’s top two. Of that money, 50 per cent would be divided between Rangers and Celtic – 55 per cent for the champions and 45 per cent for the runners-up. The other half would be based on how many matches each side plays in the competition – so if both sides are eliminated after six matches they’d get an equal share.
Matchday income is the fourth way of making money through European nights with the atmosphere at Ibrox world renowned. A conservative estimate of £1.5m for a European night in the Champions League would generate £4.5m total while higher prices for tickets and hospitality for their home matches in the elite tournament could push sales through the £2m a game barrier - or higher.
Prize money, of course, is also up for grabs with clubs rewarded for wins and draws in the group stage. A win in the Champions League is worth €2.8m (£2.36m) and a draw seeing clubs paid €930k (£783k).
Incentive-based bonuses for qualification into the knock-out rounds is also available with a huge €9.6m (£8.08m) paid to clubs qualifying for the Champions League round of 16.
Taking all of this into account, we've calculated the income for Rangers in the Champions League based on participation fee, coefficient share, TV money and matchday income.
However, it’s important to stress this doesn’t include prize money for possible group stage victories or further qualification:
Champions League guaranteed total
Starting fee: £13.2m
Coefficient share: £960k-£3.8m
TV money: £2.7m
Matchday income: £6m
Total: £22.9-25.7m
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