Financial expert makes £20m prediction as Celtic face Europa League football until January

Celtic will play in the Europa League this season.

The draw for the league phase was conducted by UEFA in Monaco on Friday as the Hoops discovered the eight opponents they will face between September and January.

It’s nowhere near the prestige of the Champions League, with Brendan Rodgers partly blaming the timing of transfers on their exit from that competition.

Unfortunately, the gulf in financial rewards between UEFA’s first and second tier tournaments is huge. But what is the bare minimum Celtic will lose out on monetarily?

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Financial expert predicts £20m Celtic UEFA revenue loss

67 Hail Hail spoke to financial expert Adam Williams and he explained that even if Celtic win the Europa League, it won’t be anywhere near what they earned from the Champions League last season.

Williams predicted that at the very least, Celtic will lose around £20m at a minimum in UEFA revenue as a result of dropping down into the Europa League.

He told us: “After the league phase of the Champions League last year, Celtic had earned nearly £40m from UEFA. They had also played four matches at Parkhead, with at least one more guaranteed in the play-off round.

“Those are matches the club is able to charge premium prices for, so the total impact of that campaign was probably somewhere beyond £50m.

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“For winning the Europa League last season, Tottenham earned about roughly £35m before matchday income. And that’s after losing just once in the league phase, with corresponding prize money.

“For Celtic, even if they go on and win this season’s Europa League, they won’t get close to that figure because they would earn less from the value pillar than an English team with a strong recent history in Europe.

“And yes, the gap between Celtic and Spurs’ earnings in European competitions last season is exacerbated by the fact that Celtic performed well in the Champions League in 2024-25.

“But even if you’re conservative in the way you model the potential revenue and apply a worst-case scenario, the cliff edge between the two competitions is enormous.

“It’s hard to put an exact figure on it because there are a lot variables in terms of how Celtic would perform in either competition and the associated opportunity costs.

“But I think the club will have revised its revenue expectations down by £20m at a bare minimum. If we’re looking at the counterfactual, it could be far more.”

Who will Celtic play in the Europa League?

Here are the eight fixtures Celtic have added to their Europa League schedule this season, with exact dates and kick-off times set to be announced on or before Sunday:

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