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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Graeme Young

Rangers and Celtic braced for Champions League 'new dawn' as £3.7 BILLION money pot nears

Football clubs have been promised a new golden age of financial riches is incoming with European club competitions set for a £1billion shot in the arm.

Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the current president of the European Club Association, has told clubs a "tectonic shift" is looming and that a new dawn for European football has arrived.

The PSG chief succeeded controversial Andrea Agnelli, after the Juventus chief stepped down in the wake of the botched attempt from some of the world's richest clubs to breakaway and form their own Super League.

That's a board that former Celtic chief Peter Lawwell also sits on, with the likes of Ajax also pushing strongly for clubs outwith the top five leagues to get fair representation.

NYON, SWITZERLAND - AUGUST 2: A view of the UEFA Champions League trophy during the UEFA Champions League 2021/22 Play-offs Round draw at the UEFA headquarters, The House of European Football on August 2, 2021, in Nyon, Switzerland. (Photo by Richard Juilliart - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images) (UEFA via Getty Images)

And the increase is good news for Scottish Premiership sides with Rangers and their city rivals battling to secure Champions League group stage football next season.

But now the ECA has come together with UEFA to further sweeten the money pot for clubs competing in their three tournaments during the 2024-27 cycle.

And that will see a new financial era that will secure over £3.7 billion per season to clubs, an incredible rise from the current total of £2.6 billion.

Al-Khelaifi, the president of Paris St Germain who resisted offers to join the breakaway league last April, told ECA members in a letter seen by the PA news agency: "This announcement (appointing the marketing agencies) represents a tectonic shift in the role that clubs now play - thanks to ECA and in partnership with UEFA - in the decisions that shape European football.

"It also represents a new dawn of financial stability and opportunity for European football clubs as the way in which our club competitions are commercialised will be transformed.

"Ultimately, thanks to this process and joint decision-making between ECA and UEFA - bringing together the very best of our two organisations under the UCC SA Joint Venture - we were able to achieve the highest ever commercial prospects for European club competitions. Further still, there are additional untapped revenue streams that we are actively exploring."

The format of the club competitions from 2024-25, including that of the Champions League, has not yet been completely finalised.

On April 19 last year - hours after 12 clubs announced the formation of the Super League - the UEFA executive committee voted on changes to the group stage whereby 32 teams grouped in one league would play 10 matches under a 'Swiss system'.

However, in the wake of the Super League scandal discussions are still ongoing over the format, though these are expected to be settled well before the agencies go to market with the rights towards the end of this year.

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