The Scottish champions are cashing in as part of Europe’s elite competition.
Bullish Martin O’Neill has tipped Celtic to make it out of the Champions League phase.
And that would see the Scottish Premiership champions rack up another payout from UEFA amid the revamp of Europe’s elite competition. Brendan Rodgers got the campaign off to the perfect start when the Celts ran riot against Slovan Bratislava in Glasgow’s east end – but they now face a major test of their European pedigree with Borussia Dortmund next on the agenda.
And O’Neill – who led Celtic all the way to the UEFA Cup Final in 2003 – reckons the revamped format is the perfect opportunity for the club to progress in Europe. He told the Daily Mail: “I thought the other format was really tired. Really tired. Even for the big teams, some of the early matches didn’t matter much because they knew they were going to finish first or second anyway. So this new format is good and better and, believe it or not, it does give teams of the calibre of Celtic a chance.
“You can maybe just win your home games and for Celtic that was a great victory against Bratislava. There is no doubt that some of these games away from home will be tough and you would expect them to be.
“But I don’t think that Dortmund are as strong as they were when Erling Haaland was playing with them a couple of years ago. And, if you’re asking me for the complete scenario rather than a judgment of the game coming up, then I think Celtic can make it to the play-offs. And that would be fantastic.
The win against Bratislava saw the club rake in £1.7m – which will be replicated for each win in the league phase. Should the club look to fulfil O’Neill’s prophecy, stat boffins Opta have stated that they would need 10 points. A tally of three wins and a draw would see the Hoops rake in £5.6m (£1.7m x 3, £584k for a draw) – as well as a bonus ball of around £1m for reaching the knockout phase.
That would leave Celtic closing in on a whopping £40m from their European exploits so far this term – with Rodgers’ side handed £15.7m just for reaching the group phase. That is before a performance related payment also pays out based on the final overall standings.
The initial value of each share will be £236K with the lowest ranked team netting one share but increases each position you rise through the 36-team table (£236K x 36 would earn £8.4m). With Celtic tipped to grap a play-off spot by reaching the top 24 they could land a significant chunk of the cash.
The Champions League revamp also introduced two pillars that will distribute the rest of the wealth. The first one takes in the media market of the respective leagues and a modified five-year coefficient and is worth £540m – 75 per cent of the total share.
The second is the non-European element – which factors in the old 10-year coefficient at a cost of £179m – or the other 25 per cent of the distribution. Even if Celtic land in the bottom third in the European pillar and the non-European element they would still land £6m.
And O’Neill has noted that it IS fair to judge the club against their European past – as he encouraged them to push for big results in the competition with Bundesliga heavyweights next on the agenda. He said: “Once you have won the European Cup, the teams which follow at that club are judged by that standard.”
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing to aim for a competitive team in Europe. Listen, the way football is going that’s becoming very difficult. What Celtic did in ’67 might never be done again. But anybody who belongs to Celtic should absolutely aspire to big results in Europe.”
Should Celtic go beyond knockout phase and reach the last 16 another whopping payday awaits. Clubs who reach that phase are guaranteed a £9.2m bonus.
