Black Cats in line for UEFA cash due to Flan and Mac
Sunderland will pocket a share of a £2.5million UEFA payout – thanks to two of their international players.
The Black Cats have seen defenders Tom Flanagan, Conor McLaughlin and Arbenit Xhemajli called up for international duty during this latest international window, with the latter in the Kosovo under-21 squad.
And it is the inclusion of Flanagan and McLaughlin in the Northern Irish senior squad which will bring financial rewards for Sunderland.
A host of clubs from around Europe will receive payments from UEFA for releasing their players for European Championship qualifiers, with Sunderland one of 676 clubs set to pocket a share of the early payout.
As has become commonplace in major tournaments, clubs whose players are called away on international duty are financially compensated for their absence. For Euro 2020, payments are also being made for club’s who have lost players to qualifying fixtures – including this latest round of play-off fixtures.
Previous payments relating to the initial qualifying fixtures were fast-tracked over the summer in order to provide financial support to clubs over a tricky few months, but a fresh pot of money is available for the play-off fixtures – which began on Thursday evening when Northern Ireland defeated Bosnia in a penalty shoot-out.
UEFA have a pot of €2.7million – roughly £2.5million – available to give to clubs whose players are involved in the playoffs, which will be released upon the finalisation of the Euro 2020 line-up.
And while this won’t be a bumper pay-out by any means, it could see a tidy five-figure sum heading to Wearside.