RANGERS chief Stewart Robertson admits a £40million payday from UEFA is far from guaranteed.
The Ibrox club qualified for the group stages of the Champions League this season for the first time in 12-years.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst guided his side to victory over PSV in the play-off round.
This saw the Light Blues placed in a group with Liverpool, Ajax and Napoli.
So far, Rangers have been beaten by both Ajax and Napoli - conceding seven with no reply.
It is widely thought that reaching the groups of UEFA's top club competition instantly pockets £40million for those participating.
However, Robertson has revealed that all is not quite as it seems when it comes to the financial rewards involved.
The club's chief executive says Rangers would need to go deep in the tournament to earn that kind of sum.
He told Rangers Review: "Some think the money has fallen out of the sky but it's not like that because we know we will be in the group stages of the Europa League. That’s budgeted. The £40m number is just wrong.
“Unless we perform really well, get through to the next round, even get through to the last eight, we are probably not getting anywhere close to £40m.
"And we know the challenge in doing that because you are up against the biggest clubs in Europe.
"When you sit with Dortmund last year and you hear budgets are five times ours, I suspect we will have one of the smallest budgets in the Champions League this year.
“Against Napoli, I thought we showed we can compete. Take the Ajax game away because that was different. Everybody knows we can do better but you realise the difference between the Europa League and the Champions League in terms of quality.
“I hope people can now see (the reality). I think we should have done more to get that message out earlier.”
Robertson further explained: "In 2021-24 the distribution model changed.
"You get a base fee which is just over £13m, there's an added element of the market pool, but it's not a lot of money, maybe £1m or £2m which is based on the TV market compared against others. You also get a performance-based payment subject to how you do.
“What used to be the other big element of it was the market pool. They have changed it so that more or less half the money is based on your 10-year coefficient ranking. Because Rangers were down the leagues, we weren't in it for five years then the sixth wasn't great (the Progres Niederkorn year).
“So we only have four years' worth of points and when you rank the 32 teams in the Champions League, we are 31st.
"Every position is worth €1.1m. So, as the 31st team, we will get €2.2m. If you are Real Madrid, who are number one, you get €36m.
“Back in the day the Champions League was worth much closer to £30m but now it's going to be much closer, for us, to £20m. So there's a big, big difference.
“I know people raised their eyebrows when I said us reaching the Europa League semi-final was the equivalent of us reaching the Champions League. That's why, because you have all those extra games to get to that stage.”
