Celtic to pocket millions from Champions League reprieve

As Celtic succumbed to a 6-1 aggregate loss to Legia Warsaw on Wednesday night, they appeared to be anything but a side who you could picture competing in the Champions League.

 

Yet in a realisation of every football fan's most wistful day dream (or nightmare, depending on where you're coming from), Legia Warsaw were booted out of the competition for fielding an ineligible player and Celtic were reinstated into the final round of qualifying which they had so hopelessly failed to reach at the first attempt.

 

It was the second time Celtic have benefitted from the incompetence of others, having been awarded a win over FC Sion in 2011’s Europa League after the Swiss side fielded ineligible players.

 

Legia's mistake, to bring on substitute Bartosz Bereszynski when he was suspended, meant that the Scottish champions will now pocket €2.1m (£1.7m) from Uefa – as well as earning another shot at qualifying for the Champions League group stage.

 

A 6-1 loss has never been so lucrative.

 

Uefa pay clubs a fee equivalent to £1.7m for appearing in the final Champions League qualifying round. If Celtic can overpower Maribor, who have a Uefa coefficient ranking of 120 compared to Celtic's 62, they will receive a further €8.6m.

 

It might not sound like much, but even for a club of Celtic’s size, that £1.7m could go a long way. After all, Celtic only achieved marginally more (£2.4m) for winning the Scottish Premier League last season.

 

As displayed in the graph below, Celtic’s overall revenues in recent years have enjoyed a massive bump after a successful European campaign. In the 2010/2011 season Celtic reached the last 16 of the Champions League, beating Barcelona along the way. They were rewarded with €23.7m for their efforts which contributed to 37.7 per cent of the club’s overall revenue.

 

 

Despite another lucrative – although not as successful – stint in the competition’s group stage last season (they earned €17.7m), the Celtic board have not been willing to bestow any of that upon new manager Ronny Deila to find new recruits for his squad thus far.

 

Perhaps with another small windfall now heading Celtic’s way, perhaps the club will be swayed to spend some money on fresh blood in the transfer market. After Celtic’s limp performance at Murrayfield on Wednesday night, it looks like they need it.