What does Rangers’ Champions League exit mean for finances?

Governing body Uefa says, external £2.12bn will be distributed to participating Champions League clubs in 2024-25, while Europa League clubs will receive a share of £485m – roughly 22% of the Champions League monies.

Rangers reached the last 16 of the Europa League last season, while Celtic competed in the final group stage of the Champions League.

Both clubs will not reveal their income streams in their accounts for 2023-24 until later this year, but Rangers were a Champions League group-stage club in autumn 2022 and detailed £18.5m in Uefa revenue in that year’s accounts.

In the previous year, which related to Rangers’ run to the Europa League final, the club received £17.3m in Uefa prize money.

How much of this season’s £485m is distributed to Rangers depends on how far they go in the competition and how many points they pick up at the new league phase.

They are guaranteed £3.7m, compared with the near £16m Celtic are guaranteed in the Champions League’s new league phase.

A win in any of the eight league-phase games Rangers will play would be worth in the region of £386,000 and a draw £129,000. The Ibrox club will also receive a performance-related amount depending on where they finish at the end of the league phase.

Qualification to the Europa League knockout round is worth £257,000 per club, with £1.5m the prize for progressing to the last 16. The prize money increases to £2.15m in the quarter-finals, £2.6m in the semi-finals, £7m for reaching the final and an additional £6m goes to the winner.

Hence, like Rangers in season 2021-22, it would require a place in the Europa League final to get close to matching Champions League pre-knockout round participation income.