Millions for seconds: the huge sum Hapoel Be'er Sheva missed out on
The gap between participating in the Europa League and the Champions League stands at about ten million euros, even before bonuses for results. Even in the secondary competition, tough rivals may await them.
Even in its third appearance in the playoff round, Hapoel Be'er Sheva failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in its history. The Israeli champion missed out on revenue of 18.62 million euros from qualifying for the tournament and will have to settle for about 8.6 million euros. This is a sum that is divided almost equally between the participation bonus in the Europa League and the bonus it already received for reaching the Champions League playoffs.
In the Champions League, teams receive 2.1 million euros for a win and 700 thousand for a draw. In the Europa League, the amounts drop to 450 thousand euros for a win and 150 thousand euros for a draw. These are significant differences for Be'er Sheva, but in the Europa League, the chances of achieving the same bonuses based on points should be higher.
The team that finishes in last place among the 36 participants in the Europa League will receive 75 thousand euros. The team that finishes one place above it will receive an additional 75 thousand euros, and so on. The top eight will automatically advance to the round of 16, the bottom 12 will be eliminated from Europe, and those ranked 9 to 24 will advance to the playoff round preceding the round of 16.
It is certainly not the Champions League, but there are some very high-quality rivals in the Europa League as well. Bayer Leverkusen, Juventus, Milan, Benfica, Marseille, and Real Sociedad are just some of the big teams that will participate. Surprisingly, all three English representatives, Bournemouth, Sunderland, and Anan Khalaili's Crystal Palace, will only be in the third pot due to their relative lack of points in Europe.
Be'er Sheva is expected to be in the fourth and final pot, and it will meet two rivals from each of the four pots.
Match dates:
Matchday 1: September 16-17
Matchday 2: October 15
Matchday 3: October 22
Matchday 4: November 5
Matchday 5: November 26
Matchday 6: December 10
Matchday 7: January 21
Matchday 8: January 28
