Celtic are already in the UEFA Champions League group stages this season without having to go through the unmitigated turmoil that is European qualifiers once again. By way of becoming Scottish Premiership Champions again last year, we have the luxury of sitting back and watching others sweat as they face the unenviable task of trying to overcome early-season trips near and far.
We’ve always had a mixed performance during these qualifiers, to say the least, and some have ranged from the disastrous to the outright embarrassing. However, we have had some memorable nights and notable victories in qualifying too which has seen Celtic Park rocking from the rooftops. Shakhtar Karagandy springs to mind.
Having already made the group stages and able to put our feet up as it were, we can watch from afar as others do battle to make the top table of European football. With that, its good to keep an eye on how those qualifying teams will affect the Hoops and our standing in terms of seeding, but also the money we can make from the 10-year coefficient.
Turnover SPFL has revealed the numbers behind possible outcomes for the Bhoys this year and has posted them online via Twitter. Tonight, Dinamo Zagreb take on AEK Athens and it could see an additional intake for the Scottish Premiership Champions. Likewise if FC Copenhagen fail to make the group’s as they both have higher coefficients than the Parkhead club.
The account states:
An AEK win tomorrow night over Dinamo Zagreb in their delayed Q3 tie is worth an additional €1.137m for Celtic from the Champions League.
If AEK progress they play Antwerp in the playoff round, and both sides have a worse 10-year coefficient tally than the Scottish champions.… pic.twitter.com/KE6xZaEBMy
— Turnover SPFL (@TurnoverSPFL) August 18, 2023
Celtic are guaranteed a minimum of €9.096m from the coefficient payment pot as part of their Champions League revenues, as outlined above it could rise to €12.507m depending on who wins those three aforementioned playoff ties.
Two of the other playoff ties involve teams…
— Turnover SPFL (@TurnoverSPFL) August 18, 2023
That €9.1m is around the entire annual revenue of St.Mirren and Kilmarnock combined.
— Turnover SPFL (@TurnoverSPFL) August 18, 2023
…so the extra coefficient payment is effectively cancelled out.
“Celtic are guaranteed a minimum of €9.096m from the coefficient payment pot as part of their Champions League revenues, as outlined above it could rise to €12.507m depending on who wins those three aforementioned playoff ties. Two of the other playoff ties involve teams ranked below Celtic (Macabi vs. Young Boys, Galatasaray vs. Molde), that’s how we now know Celtic’s minimum coefficient payout. That €9.1m is around the entire annual revenue of St.Mirren and Kilmarnock combined.”
It’s all money, money, money these days. Celtic want to ensure they are receiving their fair share to the spoils and to do that, we must hope that more teams with higher coefficients go out before the group stages start. Oh, and it just so happens that the Ibrox outfit going out is far better for us too!
It’s strictly business (honest!).
