It is a huge night for Rangers and they will be pulling out all the stops to reach the Champions League group stage.
Gio van Bronckhorst and his side have made the journey to the Netherlands to take on PSV Eindhoven in the second leg of the playoff tie. And success would not only secure their spot in the group phase for the first time in 12 years, but would bring with it a huge financial reward of up to £30million, too.
However, if the Light Blues' mission fails on Tuesday and they drop into the group stage of the Europa League instead, the financial disparity is far from paltry. According to Scottish Express Sport, Rangers can expect to earn as much as £20million from second tier European competition. So, despite what would surely be a disappointing end to their Champions League qualification efforts, Rangers would still enjoy a hefty reward as well as a good chance of getting into the knockout phase for the fourth year running.
The Ibrox side will receive a payment of around £4.25million if they are knocked out by PSV on Tuesday. They will also earn £3million for their participation in the Europa League group clashes, with an added advantage of being amongst the competition's top seeds.
Rangers are set to be the fifth highest seeds, a spot that would entitle them to another £3.13million in coefficient payments - almost three times the payment they would get in the Champions League. These payments are based on a 10-year coefficient ranking, but the Gers have only been back playing European football for five.
For every group game win there is a payment of £533,000, with a boost of around £177,000 per draw. It means that Rangers could expect to earn over £1.5million.
Additionally, there is just under £120million set aside for TV market share. This sum is split proportionality with the larger audiences in places like England, France, Germany and Spain - commanding a much larger pay-out. Half of this money is split between the 32 teams competing in the group stage with the other 50 per cent kicking in from the knockout phase onwards.
And if Hearts fail to overcome Zurich on Thursday, Rangers would be entitled to 100 per cent of Scotland's share of £60million. But it is thought that the Ibrox side would only bring in between £500,000 and £1million.
Success in the competition brings more money in, obviously. So, if Rangers were to win their group and bag a spot in the last 16, they would receive around £1million. Finish second and they will earn £425,000 before facing a third-placed Champions League side in a playoff round - bringing the total from UEFA somewhere between £13million and £14million.
Separate from that, theclub would hope to bring in around £6million for three home matches in terms of ticket sales, corporate hospitality and other revenues. So all in all, it is not unreasonable to suggest that Rangers will pull in close to £20million.
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