Celtic earned more than £30m in UEFA TV money alone during the 2023/24 season, despite finishing bottom of their Champions League group.
Brendan Rodgers’ Bhoys faced off against Atletico Madrid, Lazio and Feyenoord, picking up four points with a win at home to the Dutch side and a draw against the Spaniards.
That wasn’t enough for progression into the last 16 nor a parachute into the Europa League.
Nonetheless, it was a lucrative campaign for Celtic that will help the club post another set of incredible financial results for the year ending 30th June 2024.
The Bhoys declared record revenue in 2023 and could be on the way to breaking that again in the upcoming annual report later this year.
Celtic’s 2023/24 UEFA Champions League money detailed
UEFA’s Champions League TV money is split into four main tranches – participation money simply for taking part, prize money based on results in the competition, a payment based on a club’s position in the 10-year coefficient ranking and a TV pool payment based on the market a club is based.
Football finance outlet Swiss Ramble has posted a full breakdown of the money earned by every club, including Celtic, in the competition this season.
Like all other clubs, Celtic were paid €15.6m for their participation in the group stages. Prize money totalled out at €4m for a win and a draw. The placing on the coefficient list earned another €10.2m.
Scotland gets 10% of the UK-wide TV pool and, as sole qualifiers from the Premiership, Celtic were estimated to have bagged another €7m.
In total that works out at €36.8m which is roughly £31.7m at today’s exchange rate.
That makes it by far the most lucrative tournament for Celtic to compete in. The Bhoys only earned around £5m from domestic TV deals for their treble win last term, in comparison.
Of the 32 clubs competing in the Champions League, Celtic are said to have ranked 25th in UEFA income ahead of Newcastle, Braga, Galatasaray, Young Boys, Union Berlin, Red Star Belgrade and Antwerp.
None of this income takes into account gate receipts or extra commercial revenue from the three home matches either, so millions more were earned as a result of participation.
The Champions League is set to become even more lucrative
TV revenue for the 2024/25 edition of the tournament is set to increase by 21% with more home games included, so if Celtic qualify next season the income will shoot up further.
That puts extra meaning onto the current Premiership title race with Rangers. The league winners will automatically qualify for next year’s group stages.
That automatic qualification won’t return for the following season and potentially for years, so there’s quite the prize pot on offer.
It’s a major storyline in this title race and it all adds to the drama that will unfold in Saturday’s derby clash.