Scottish Premiership sides to share £4m thanks to Celtic UCL campaign

Scotland's top-flight clubs will share a record £4million windfall thanks to Celtic's Champions League exploits last season.

Celtic have reached the Champions League group stages in each of the last two seasons. Picture: John Devlin

The cash - to be distributed to the 11 other Ladbrokes Premiership teams on Thursday - comes after Brendan Rodgers’ side qualified for the group stages 12 months ago.

The Hoops’ rivals will each be given around £370,000 in UEFA solidarity payments, the largest such sum ever paid out to Scottish clubs.

This year’s total is more than double the £1.8million received last year and is 10 times the total of £400,000 paid out by UEFA to Scottish Professional Football League clubs in 2015.

Neil Doncaster, chief executive of the SPFL, said: “This is very welcome news and a further sign that clubs prospering in European football is a boon not just for them but for others in the Ladbrokes Premiership, too.

“Having a Scottish representative in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League enhances the profile of the SPFL and brings financial benefits to other top-flight clubs via these solidarity payments.”