Celtic, Hibs, Hearts & Killie get World Cup bonus

Four Scottish clubs are to benefit to the tune of over $400,000 (£265,000) from the distribution of money raised by last summer’s World Cup in Brazil.

By IAIN COLLIN Friday, 9th January 2015, 12:00 am

Georgios Samaras gave Celtic a cash boost. Picture: Getty

Celtic, Hearts, Hibernian and Kilmarnock will all receive windfalls via the European Club Association (ECA), who are to distribute $70 million (£46m) to a total of 396 clubs in 57 different national associations across the globe.

Celtic are by far the biggest winners, receiving $346,267 (£229,000) thanks to the participation in the tournament of England goalkeeper Fraser Forster, Greece striker Georgios Samaras, Nigeria defender Efe Ambrose and Honduras defender Emilio Izaguirre.

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However, although Hearts, Kilmarnock and Hibs did not have any of their current players performing in Brazil they still benefited because of the criteria by which money is distributed to the clubs from the previous two seasons of players who featured in the finals.

Hibs are to earn the next biggest windfall behind Celtic, receiving $27,067 (£17,932) because midfielder Jorge Claros, who spent 16 months on loan at Easter Road, was a member of the Honduras squad.

Kilmarnock are to get $23,800 (£15,768) thanks to former player Reuben Gabriel being in Brazil with Nigeria, and Hearts have been granted $12,600 (£8,347)because of Ryan McGowan’s participation with Australia.

An ECA statement explained: “A club’s share of the $70m is calculated by reference to the number of players from a club who were selected for their national team for the Fifa World Cup 2014 and the number of days each player was at the tournament.

“This period started two weeks before the opening match of the final competition, up until the day after his national team was eliminated. More specifically, the ‘total amount per player’ is calculated by multiplying the number of days a player was present at the 2014 Fifa World Cup by a fixed amount ‘per player per day’, which was set at $2,800.

“Of the ‘total amount per player’, a pro rata share is then passed on to the club(s) with which a player was registered in the two-year period before the final tournament (ie season 2012-13 and 2013-14).”

Celtic would also have benefited marginally from Ki Sung-Yeung being still with Celtic at the outset of season 2012-13 before moving to Swansea City in August 2012.

The ECA secured $40m from Fifa to distribute from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa but that figure rocketed to $70m for last year’s tournament in Brazil.

A similar agreement is in place with Uefa for the European Championship, with $150m being made available for distribution after Euro 2016 in France – up from the $100m available after 2012.