Europa League prize money 25/26: How much Celtic and Rangers will earn - how it compares to the Champions League
This is how much Celtic and Rangers will earn from the participation in Europe this season.
Both Celtic and Rangers were unable to realise their Champions League dream, with disastrous defeats in the competition’s playoff qualifiers meaning Scottish football has no representative in Europe’s elite competition during the 2025/26 campaign.
For the first time since the 2021/22 season, Celtic will not participate in the Champions League following their dramatic penalty shootout defeat to Kairat Almaty on Tuesday evening. A huge blow to the club on the pitch, the Hoops will also take a massive financial hit, with their Champions League prize money now heading to Kazakhstan instead.
As for Rangers, a 9-1 aggregate drubbing by Club Brugge saw their hopes of qualifying for the competition ended in embarrassing fashion, meaning both Old Firm rivals will now enter the Europa League instead.
With Scotland shut out of the Champions League for the 2025/26 season, we look at how much are Celtic and Rangers are missing out on by not qualifying for Europe’s elite completion - and how does it compare to the Europa League’s prize money this season?
Here’s everything you need to know about UEFA’s prize money pots for both the Champions League and the Europa League in 2025/26:
Champions League prize money 25/26 - how much will clubs earn from playing in the Champions League?
Following their shootout defeat to Kairat Almaty in the Champions League playoffs, Celtic missed out on a huge cash injection that would have come with playing in the competition. With Rangers also failing to get beyond Club Brugge in Wednesday’s second leg, they’ll now also suffer the same fate.
The total amount they have missed out on is as follows:
All 36 qualifying teams will receive a league phase allocation of €18.62million, which is split into a down-payment of €17.87million and a balance of €750k according to UEFA’s website.
Qualifying clubs also earn a performance-related bonus, which will be paid for each match in the League Phase. This equals €2.1m per win and €700k per draw.
- Last Qualifying Round (Losing Teams): €4.29m
- Finish in the top of the League Phase: €2 million each
- Finished between ninth and 16th: €1 million each
- Knockout round play-offs: €1m per club
- Round of 16: €11m per club
- Quarter-finals: €12.5m per club
- Semi-finals: €15m per club
- Final: €18.5m per club
- Winners can expect to receive an additional €6.5m.
Europa League prize money 25/26 - how much will Rangers, Celtic and Aberdeen earn from playing in the Europa League?
While Rangers blew their chances of bringing Champions League football back to Ibrox, they are still guaranteed a spot in the Europa League alongside Celtic.
All 36 qualifying clubs will be guaranteed a fixed starting fee of €4.31 million, which is made to ensure a baseline financial reward for participation.
Like the Champions League, each qualifying clubs also earn a performance-related bonus, which will be paid for each match in the League Phase. This equals €450k per win and €150k per draw.
- Finish in the top eight of the League Phase: €600k each
- Finished between ninth and 16th: €300k each
- Playoff round: €300k each
- Round of 16: €1.75m per club
- Quarter-finals: €2.5m per club
- Semi-finals: €4.5m per club
- Final: €7m per club
- Winners can expect to receive an additional €6m.
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