The 3 Rangers Champions League prize money scenarios laid out from £3m worst case to £13m payday

Rangers stand to bank more than £3million even if their Champions League worst case scenario comes to pass on Tuesday night…but will take home £13.5m before a group stage ball is even kicked if they qualify.

Michael Beale’s team are in Switzerland for their return leg against Servette hoping to finish the job after a 2-1 win at Ibrox. It’s a tenuous lead, especially considering Rangers were 2-0 up within 15 minutes and Servette played the final 30 with 10 men, but they remain hot favourites to advance and set up a playoff tie with either PSV or Sturm Graz.

The money and profile that comes with making the Champions League group stage is tantalising. It is in effect worth close to £25m once advertising and TV cash are taken into account and prize money alone makes up a huge chunk of that. The side who go out in Switzerland will receive an initial €3.7m (£3m) UEFA payout just for making it this far, but the playoff round is where the financial stakes begin to rise.

Rangers and Servette both know that if they don’t quality for the Champions League, they are guaranteed Europa League football, whether they lose here or at the next stage where PSV likely lie in wait. But the big difference between the third qualifying round and the playoff is in the cash pot.

The team who loses in the playoff still receives that £3m payout, plus a chunk of extra prize money and a special windfall payment for dropping out of the Champions League. Totted up, that accounts to £8.7m (£7.5m) – more than double what they would get for going out at this stage of the tournament.

Then it ramps up another gear. The teams who go all the way and qualify are handed €15.6m (£13.4m) for landing in the group stage, and that’s before taking into account prize money dolled out for every positive result. Each draw in the tournament proper earns you €900,000 (£775,000), while every win earns you €2.8m (£2.4m). That’s an additional total of £14.4m up for grabs before any knockout stage qualification is taken into consideration.

Qualifying for the last 16 is worth £8.2m, with each round thereafter earning incrementally more. The total Champions League prize money pot stands at £73m which will go to the winners at Wembley next June.