UEFA have been working hard to get as many teams as possible competing in continental competition, with the Europa League one of the grandest prizes on offer despite often finding itself operating in the shadow of the more illustrious Champions League.
Rubbing shoulders with the elite is the ultimate goal for all of those involved in European football, but any opportunity to land major silverware should never be passed up and can be expected to conjure up dreams of savouring ultimate glory for those fortunate enough to reach the latter stages.
Rangers and Eintracht Frankfurt have made their way to the final in 2021-22, with their contest set to play out at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium in Seville on May 18, but what will the victors receive alongside a shiny trophy? GOAL takes a look...
How much prize money do the Europa League 2021-22 winners receive?
Rangers and Eintracht Frankfurt are both guaranteed to pocket £4.2 million ($5.2m) just for reaching the final.
The added incentive for emerging victorious is that the winners on Spanish soil will collect a further £3.6m ($4.53m), meaning that they will almost double their overall earnings.
That is because the team hoisting a famous trophy aloft in the middle of May will go on to face the Champions League winners – either Liverpool or Real Madrid – in the UEFA Super Cup on August 10.
Full breakdown of Europa League 2021-22 prize money:
Stage of competition | Prize money |
|---|---|
Winner | £7.8m |
Runner-up | £4.2m |
Semi-finalist | £2.5m |
Quarter-finalist | £1.6m |
Round of 16 | £1.1m |
Knockout round play-offs | £446,000 |
Group winner | £994,000 |
Group runner-up | £500,000 |
Group stage win | £572,000 |
Group stage draw | £191,000 |
Group stage qualification | £3.3m |
Do the Europa League 2021-22 winners qualify for the Champions League?
Alongside the obvious benefits of adding another piece of silverware to trophy cabinets in Glasgow or Frankfurt, while also boosting respective bank balances, there is another major perk to winning the Europa League.
Rangers and Eintracht know that success at the home of La Liga outfit Sevilla will send them straight through to the group stage of the 2022-23 Champions League.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side will be hoping to tread that path regardless of what happens in their next outing, with a runners-up spot in the Scottish Premiership this season guaranteeing them a place in the third qualifying round of next season’s Champions League.
Eintracht, though, could only muster an 11th-place finish in the Bundesliga this term and find themselves in all or nothing territory ahead of a meeting with the Gers.
Defeat for Oliver Glasner’s side would leave them without European football of any kind for 2022-23, while victory will catapult them into Champions League and Super Cup showpieces.
