How much Nottingham Forest are set to earn in Europa League after historic UEFA ruling

Subject to Crystal Palace’s right to appeal, Nottingham Forest will play in the UEFA Europa League next season, with a potentially significant financial boost sweetening the announcement.

Forest were handed the Europa League spot after UEFA ruled that Crystal Palace were in breach of their rules against multi-club ownership, given John Textor’s role at Lyon as well as The Eagles.

In an interview on Thursday, Textor believed Palace would retain their Europa League place, but Friday’s ruling has seen them swap with Forest into the Conference League, pending the result of a potential appeal.

The Forest squad will now have to prepare for a bump in the quality of opposition, but according to Football Finance expert Adam Williams, the monetary prize will be well worth it.

Nottingham Forest set for financial bounty after Europa League confirmation

Of course, the extra money made from matchday revenues alone would’ve made the Conference League a lucrative endeavour for Evangelos Marinakis, but the Forest owner will now get to prepare for an even greater financial boost.

Speaking exclusively to Nottingham Forest News, Williams outlined in detail just how significant the Europa League promotion could be.

He said: “Forest will be due about £4m before a ball is kicked next season. With UEFA’s value pillar, which is calculated based on a UEFA member nation’s TV deal and clubs’ coefficients, I’d estimate they’ll probably get another £3m or so.

“Forest will suffer because it’s their first season back in Europe for decades, so they will be low-ranked by their coefficient, but they benefit from the UK TV deal, which is one of, if not the biggest for the competition.

“On top of that, there’s performance-related prize money. Every win in the Europa League league phase is worth about £400,000, while a draw is worth about £130,000. If you win all your matches, that can take you to the eight-figure mark. Then, you get a fee based on your position in the table, which can be up to around £2.5m. So you’re getting close to £15m there.

“By contrast, Chelsea got about £15m for winning the Conference League outright. If Forest win the Europa League, they’ll get at least £30m all told.”

Those numbers could see the Forest boardroom begin to get ahead of themselves with excitement ahead of the upcoming continental campaign, but Palace’s right to appeal remains a caveat.

However, Williams has expressed doubts about Palace’s chances if they choose to take UEFA’s ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Crystal Palace likely to struggle to overturn UEFA’s decision

The Europa League decision could help Forest secure transfer targets, but players will also be aware that the Reds’ fate in the competition isn’t quite sealed.

Palace are within their rights to appeal UEFA’s decision at CAS, but Williams has little hope that the FA Cup winners could overturn the call.

He said: “We also have to caveat this by saying Palace might challenge this at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but I can’t see a scenario in which CAS overturn UEFA’s decision. They must have something pretty concrete to arrive at this decision.”

Amid the ongoing chaos of Morgan Gibbs-White’s move to Tottenham, Forest fans can take comfort in knowing that their side will, barring a surprise decision at CAS, be playing Europa League football this season.