Celtic came away victorious against city rivals Rangers for the third time this season as goals from Matt O’Riley and John Lundstram proved crucial.
It was a tense affair for the home supporters in the closing stages but in the end, the Hoops pulled through professionally, limiting Rangers to just one shot on target throughout the 90.
The win all but sealed the title. Celtic are six clear with two games to go and simply need a draw at Rugby Park on Wednesday to make it three in a row.
Today’s result also practically confirmed the Hoops’ participation in next season’s lucrative expanded Champions League.
This season, the club netted 36m euros for their performance and participation in Europe’s premier club competition (Swiss Ramble).
Next campaign, TV money is set to rise by 33% (The Times). In 2023/24, the Celts got 7m euros for TV and based on the rise, next season they’ll get 9.3m.
As well as this, money for initially qualifying for the tournament is set to increase to 20m euros (GiveMeSport).
Performance must also be taken into account. A win and a draw in this season’s Champions League earned Celtic 4m euros (Swiss Ramble) but next campaign, they’ll play more than just six games.
With the expanded format, the Hoops will play eight times in the league phase and if they finish in the top 24, they will have a further two fixtures, meaning they could play 10 times in Europe. The prize money the club makes for results will undoubtedly rise in 2024/25 because of this factor.
In addition, 10.2m euros was made for Celtic’s position in the coefficient table this campaign (Swiss Ramble). Next season, such a figure will likely remain.
On the whole, we can assume that guaranteed, the Celts will make around 39.5m euros guaranteed from just initially making it to the Champions League.
On top of this, they have eight (possibly ten) shots at making even more money through performance.
When crunched, these numbers show how crucial today’s victory was not just for the title’s destination, but for the financial gap between Celtic and Rangers.
