Celtic’s Champions League earnings blow Chelsea’s Conference League prize money out of the water

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Celtic may not have a European trophy in their cabinet from this season, but they still pocketed a healthy sum of money from their run.

For the first time in 12 years, Celtic reached the knockout stages of the Champions League but were beaten by Bayern Munich in the dying seconds of the second leg.

Brendan Rodgers’ side were beaten 2-1 at Celtic Park but held the Bundesliga giants to a 1-1 draw at the Allianz Arena – meaning that they were defeated 3-2 on aggregate.

In total, Celtic earned €46.16m in prize money from UEFA and it blows Chelsea’s earnings for winning the Conference League out of the water.

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Celtic earned more than double the amount Chelsea received for Conference League win

Chelsea became the first club in England to win all three major European trophies after their comeback win against Real Betis.

The Spanish outfit took the lead but Enzo Maresca’s men rallied back to score four goals without reply in Wroclaw, Poland and take home their first piece of silverware since 2021.

Football Meets Data revealed on X that Chelsea took home €21.99m for winning the Conference League – meaning that Celtic earned more than double the amount the west London side earned for winning a trophy.

To add to that, one of the Hoops’ Champions League opponents, Slovan Bratislava, earned more money than the Conference League winners, despite losing all eight of their league phase matches and finishing bottom of the table.

How much will Celtic earn for qualifying for the 2025/26 Champions League?

Unlike recent years, Celtic will have to compete in a qualifier to guarantee their place in the league phase.

The Bhoys know who they could face in the Champions League qualifiers after learning they will be on the seeded side of the draw.

Every side that qualifies for the league phase automatically earns £15.7m for reaching that stage – regardless of how many games they lose.

It’s a huge money incentive and could only be seen as a positive, especially when it comes to recruiting new players.