The financial implications of Celtic's Champions League failure

Celtic are set to lose out on around £25m following their Champions League capitulation against LASK. They can recoup some of those losses with a strong showing in the Europa League, but that is far from certain given they failed to reach the last 16 of the tournament last season. Qualification for the Champions League proper is worth a flat rate of £15.9m, a fair whack more than the Europa League fee of £3.7m. The club will also bank a similar amount for their participation in the Champions League play-offs, meaning they are about £8.5m worse off as a starting point. When it comes to broadcast income, the Champions League offers four-and-a-half times the pool of money available compared to the Europa League. The final payouts depend on the country's broadcasting value, the number of clubs competing from each country, and clubs' recent performances in Europe. Each place above the bottom in the Champions League is worth £830,000 more than the Europa League. However, Celtic will likely be higher up the table in the Europa League than the Champions League and the difference from the past two campaigns was only about £2m less in the lower competition. Performance bonuses are where the real Champions League money can be made, with again roughly four-and-a-half times the amount of performance-related payments on offer as opposed to the Europa League. A Champions League win is worth £1.8m while a draw banks £600,000 - the equivalent figures in the Europa League are about £390,000 and £130,000. Celtic finished 21st in the past two seasons, both in the Champions League and Europa League, so based on recent results and another 21st-placed finish, they face losing out on about £5m in results and £4m in league-table bonuses. In total, the Hoops could realistically lose about £10m in performance-related income, although they have the chance to limit the difference with a strong performance in the Europa League. The difference in reaching the last 16 in each competition is more than £8m. In terms of gate receipts, Celtic charged £44 more for an adult four-match Champions League package two years ago than they did for the subsequent Europa League campaign. The difference in hospitality packages was greater. The difference across the stadium would work out at about £3.3m based on another five-game campaign.