Rangers are guaranteed an extra €5m (£4.2m) if they can overcome a 2-1 deficit and defeat Malmo FF in Champions League QR3 this evening.
The Ibrox club will be hoping to reach the group stages of the tournament but a new parachute-style payment guarantees an extra cash boost for those playing in the Playoff Round.
Not only that, but should Rangers overcome the Swedish Champions then the Ibrox side will be guaranteed a place in the Europa League for next season.
The €5m parachute payment was outlined in a UEFA letter explaining the financial distributions for all three member competitions.
This comes under rule 1.1.1:
“A total of €30m will be paid out to clubs involved in the UCL play-offs: clubs that are eliminated will each receive a fixed payment of €5m.
“The winners of the play-offs will not receive any specific payment for this round as they will receive payments for participating in the UCL group stage.”
It’s a not insignificant figure and highlights just how much financial pressure is riding on the game.
The finances involved were also the subject of much discussion by Malmo manager Jon Dahl Tomasson as he looked to heap pressure on Rangers ahead of the game.
The Danish striker played that night now Gers manager Steven Gerrard inspired the Miracle of Istanbul for Liverpool during Tomasson’s time with AC Milan.
And he’s certainly ramped things up ahead of the game by claiming Rangers “need” the money that comes with Champions League qualification.
“Don’t you think that they need the Champions League money?” said Tomasson [Sky Sports].
“I think so, I think they need that. I think that’s a good answer.”
This is despite the Malmo chairman previously claiming the Swedish Champions had suffered “big and tangible losses” in 2020 due to Covid-19.
“We have calculated the loss of revenue to be up to approximately SEK 100 million (£8.3m), and the profit effect on it is approximately a loss of SEK 50 million plus (£4m+) or minus a number of millions,” said chairman Anders Pålsson in August 2020 [Teller Report].
“We do not really know what will happen to some of our revenues.”
Rangers posted losses of £15.9m in November 2020, an increase of £4.3m from the previous year [BBC Sport].
Rangers fans naturally had plenty to say regarding Tomasson’s comments as they ramped up the battle fever ahead of the crunch clash.
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