Rangers have earned a top-eight finish in the Europa League and automatically qualified for the competition’s Round of 16.
On a remarkable Europa League MD8 at Ibrox, Rangers took care of business with a 2-1 victory over Union Saint-Gilloise in Glasgow.
But the Gers also needed other results to go their way and got big favours from OGC Nice, Manchester United and Hoffenheim to squeeze into eighth place in the Europa League table.
The result means Rangers will get an automatic bye to the Europa League Round of 16 and skip a potentially tricky Playoff round involving the teams who finished 9th-24th.
Who could Rangers face in Europa League Round of 16?
Rangers already know who they could face in the Europa League last 16.
Well, sort of.
Given the way the tournament is structured, with the draw made based off league positions, there are four potential opponents for Rangers given how the League Phase ended.
Rangers will face one of Bodo/Glimt (9th), Anderlecht (10th), FC Twente (23rd) or Fenerbahce (24th) in the Europa League Round of 16.
With the Playoff round draw to be made in Nyon, Switzerland on Friday 31st January, Rangers will get a clearer picture of who they might face tomorrow.
When is Europa League Round of 16?
Rangers get to put their feet up for the two-legged Europa League Playoff Round which is scheduled for the 13th and 20th of February.
The Europa League Round of 16 ties are then scheduled for the 6th and 13th of March with Rangers set to play the away leg of the tie first.
This means Rangers will have the Ibrox factor in the second leg on the 13th of March and despite the fact the away goals rule has been abolished, this is an almighty bonus.
Rangers earn over £9m in Europa League prize money
Rangers have also banked a healthy cash bonus for skipping straight to the Europa League last 16.
The Gers side have banked an extra €1.75m (£1.5m) for finishing the top-eight in the Europa League and Philippe Clement might be hoping it gets put into a January transfer kitty.
That’s on top of the €4.31m (£3.6m) Rangers received for qualifying for the competition and the bonus payments the club gets for their results throughout the tournament.
Rangers also get an additional €600k (£500k) for finishing in the competition’s top eight.
Rangers get €150k (£125k) a piece for the draws with Olympiacos and Spurs (£250k in total) whilst the club earned €450k (£375k) for each of their wins over Malmo, FCSB, OGC Nice and USG (£1.5m).
As explained by UEFA, there is also a cash distribution system based on each club’s final ranking in the League Phase with the bottom club receiving one share of €75k and the top team receiving 36 shares of the same figure.
Rangers, having finished eighth, will get 29 shares of €75k, which totals €2.175m (£1.82m).
In total Rangers have banked around £9.17m in UEFA bonus payments for their exploits in the Europa League so far this season.
Whisper it quietly but if Rangers progress to the tournament’s quarter finals it’s worth an additional €2.5m (£2m) to the club.
