A financial windfall for Hajduk in Europe?
For Hajduk, two matches against Slovan Liberec are worth over four million euros. Hajduk has already passed three rounds of the qualifications for the Europa League, and now only Slovan stands between the club from Split and a group of the Europa League. Four million euros, or about 30 million kuna, is almost half of Hajduk's annual budget. By comparison, the budget for this year is expected to be little more than 68 million kuna. So, in just two matches, Hajduk could cover almost half of its annual spending, reports Slobodna Dalmacija on August 15, 2015.
A place in the group phase of the Europa League brings to each club 2.4 million euros. From tickets, Hajduk could earn additional 1.5 million euros, or half a million per match, if the stadium were to be sold out and the prices were as they are for the match against Slovan. And if Hajduk were to repeat the success from the 2010/2011 season and achieve a victory in one match, that would bring another 360,000 euros. So, in total, Hajduk could earn around 4.2 million euros. There will also be additional advertising revenue, income from television rights.... However, we must not forget expenses as well.
All in all, joining the group phase would be very lucrative. The stakes are high. So far, in the first three qualifying rounds, Hajduk earned 630,000 euros just from UEFA. Even if it doesn't enter the group phase, it will earn additional 230,000 euros, for a total of 860,000 euros.
The biggest benefit for Hajduk would be for players such as Nikola Vlašić and Andrija Balić to stay longer at Poljud. Indeed, through their performances in the Europa League, Vlašić, Balić, Maloku and others would be even more visible to foreign scouts. The value of Hajduk's players in the Europa League can only grow, which would subsequently bring higher profits for the club. In recent years, Hajduk made the biggest transfers after successful performances in the Europa League in the 2010/2011 season. Ivan Strinić was sold for four million euros to Dnipro, while that same winter Senijad Ibričić went for five million euros to Lokomotiv Moscow.
