'There's a big, big difference' - Rangers chief explains lucrative £40m Champions League myth as competition not as lucrative

Rangers managing director Stewart Robertson has revealed the Champions League is not as lucrative as it once was for the club.

Qualification for the group stage of UEFA’s premier club competition for the first time since 2010 was going to bring untold riches which could amount to £40million.

Or that was the expectation at least.

In an interview with the Rangers Review, Robertson laid out the reality in stark terms noting the club would likely make around half of that number due to a change in the distribution model, specifically how one of the revenue generators of the competition is now divvied up.

Even getting to the final 16 or eight of the competition would see the club struggle to reach the £40million headline figure.

The club’s lack of European football between 2012 and 2017 is one of the reasons behind the difficulty to get such riches.

“Some think the money has fallen out of the sky but it's not like that because we know we will be in the group stages of the Europa League,” Robertson said. “That’s budgeted. The £40m number is just wrong.

“In 2021-24 the distribution model changed. You get a base fee which is just over £13m, there's an added element of the market pool, but it's not a lot of money, maybe £1m or £2m which is based on the TV market compared against others. You also get a performance-based payment subject to how you do.

Rangers managing director Stewart Robertson has explained the Champions League is not as lucrative as it once was. (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group)

“What used to be the other big element of it was the market pool. They have changed it so that more or less half the money is based on your 10-year coefficient ranking. Because Rangers were down the leagues, we weren't in it for five years then the sixth wasn't great (when the club were knocked out by Progres Niederkorn).

“So we only have four years' worth of points and when you rank the 32 teams in the Champions League, we are 31st. Every position is worth €1.1m. So, as the 31st team, we will get €2.2m. If you are Real Madrid, who are number one, you get €36m.

“Back in the day the Champions League was worth much closer to £30m but now it's going to be much closer, for us, to £20m. So there's a big, big difference.”