The ‘good for Scottish football’ argument is a well worn one whenever any of our teams achieve something in Europe.
Rangers made it two teams in the Champions League group stage after a brilliant 1-0 second leg victory over PSV last night, and there’s a tangible benefit to Hearts as a result, providing the Jambos get the job done against FC Zurich tonight - seeing as they’d be Scotland’s only Scottish representatives in Europa League.
Robbie Neilson ’s side trail 2-1 after last Thursday’s first leg encounter in St Gallen. In previous years, Lawrence Shankland’s penalty would have been even more valuable to the capital club. But with the away goals rule scrapped, a 1-0 win at Tynecastle will only be enough for extra-time. However, that also means that there’s no cause to overly panic should the Swiss champions find a way past Craig Gordon at the other end of the pitch.
The capital club ensured they’d be filling their coffers this season all the way back in April. A 3-1 Edinburgh derby win over Hibs saw them secure third place and condemn their rivals to the bottom six in the process. A week later, they beat them again at Hampden to reach the Scottish Cup final, which guaranteed them group stage football in either the Europa League or Conference League this term.
The prize money on offer is significant regardless of which competition they end up in, but Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side’s win in Eindhoven has increased the cash on offer should Hearts get the job done this evening. They’ll bank a £3.6million starting fee for qualifying anyway. But with Rangers now confirmed as Champions League participants, that means the Scottish share of the TV revenue won’t have to be shared with anyone else.
That bumps up the financial reward to at least £5million. On top of that, there’s pounds-per-point to take into consideration, including further payments based on coefficient rankings.
For each Europa League win in the groups, Hearts will bank £531, 652. A share of the spoils earns them £177, 217 a point. In the unlikely event they win all six matches, that’s over £7million available in theory.
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