While the domestic campaign for Tottenham Hotspur may have been a major struggle this season, the club still has one foot in a major final and the glimmer of hope of UEFA Champions League football next year.

Winning the Carabao Cup won’t deliver a pass to the top tier European competition for Spurs if they were to edge past Liverpool in the second leg of their semi-final on Thursday evening and find a way past already secured finalists Newcastle United, although it would provide a path to the play-off round of the Europa Conference League.

Carabao Cup triumphs don’t yield huge financial gains either, with the prize pot for winning the competition just £100,000 in the final, with the biggest gains for clubs coming from matchday revenue for any home games they have along the way.

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But Spurs did manage to punch their ticket to the last 16 of the Europa League last week with a 3-0 win at home to Swedish side IF Elfsborg, a result that secured fourth spot with a record of five wins, two draws and a defeat.

A top four finish is not happening for Ange Postecoglou’s side this season, but they could still qualify for next season’s Champions League should they be crowned winners of the Europa League, although with big names such as Manchester United, Ajax, Lazio, Olympique Lyonnais, Athletic Bibao, Spurs and Eintracht Frankfurt all in the mix, it won’t be an easy task for a woefully out of sorts Spurs side.

With the league phase now done and dusted, the true financial benefit of Tottenham competing in the Europa League can be seen, with the club having achieved around £18.2million in attributed revenue. That comes from €450,000 (£370,000) per win, of which there were five, making it €2.25million (£1.9million), as well as three draws, which delivered a total of €300,000 (£251,000).

That comes on top of participation funds of €4.3million (£3.6million), and a league ranking qualification payment of €2.7million (£2.3million). Booking a spot in the last 16 brings in a further €1.75million (£1.5million).

It is the broadcast rights that are particularly valuable, as is the case in the Champions League, with the combined slice of the European and non-European part of the value pillar, which averages the club market value and the five-year UEFA coefficient that saw the club rake in €9.7million (£8.1million). If the revenue of four home games already in the bank for the club is used, as well as the guaranteed extra one in the last 16, then based on a rough estimate of £3.5million in income for one match, that is a potential £17.5million in additional matchday revenue to be taken into account.

While the money from the Europa League will go a little way to easing some of the pain caused by a lack of Champions League football, the revenue comparison with Europe’s biggest competition shows the potential for rivals to pull away from Spurs, with Arsenal’s return to the Champions League stage having seen them leapfrog Tottenham from 10th into seventh when it comes to total revenue in the recently-published Deloitte Football Money League.

Not taking into account additional matchday revenue for each club, Liverpool have earned £84million, Arsenal have earned £78million, Manchester City have bagged £65million, and Aston Villa have already banked nearly £60m from competing so far, with all of them making through the group stage of the competition, albeit with Man City set for a tricky playoff fixture against Real Madrid.

There is also the impact that can be felt on commercial deals, where some partners see the value of their deals increased in line with the additional exposure in the Champions League, while success in the competition provides clubs with the leverage to ask for more when either seeking new commercial partners or renegotiating with existing ones.

There is a £66million gap in revenue between Liverpool and Spurs from just the group stage of the competition, underlining the huge importance that being a regular in the competition has on the finances of major clubs.

Liverpool dropped a place in the Deloitte Football Money League that was published last month, with revenues impacted by a season in the Europa League. They were leapfrogged by Arsenal after the Gunners made their return to Champions League football and had access to the revenues associated with that.

A season out of the competition hurts finances but can be addressed, and Liverpool are likely to see a significant bounce back in the 2024/25 financial year with a loss anticipated for the 2023/24 period. But remaining outside of the competition for too long will be severely impactful for Spurs’ finances, and even with the strength of commercial deals and matchday revenue being so high, it will be hard to stop their rivals gaining financial ground in a significant way.

This season’s Europa League should take on greater significance, and next season’s Premier League campaign will go the same way.

Tottenham’s threadbare squad this season, ravaged by injuries, was added to at the transfer deadline with the signings of Bayern Munich forward Mathys Tel and RC Lens defender Kevin Danso, while some of those on the treatment table are expected back before the next round of Europa League games commence.

A large squad and the ability to rotate is a key feature for clubs who achieve European success, and while Spurs aren’t a mathematical certainty to avoid a relegation dogfight, they have enough of a gap and enough quality to really have to ponder too much on that doomsday scenario.

But they may have to start thinking about the Europa League in reverse a little. Often it has been a distraction for big clubs chasing a top four finish, but for Spurs it could well provide them with a golden ticket to a competition that has been revamped and has never been worth more to clubs, with even a run to the last 16 potentially delivering £100million in revenue when additional matchday income and extra broadcast sums are all factored in. Those kinds of figures are hugely impactful.

Spurs’ revenue is expected to fall from £549million in 2022/23 to £529million for the 2023/24 financial year, according to the Deloitte report, and that is a trend, at a time when rivals Arsenal are set to see their revenue rise by a third year-on-year to £616million thanks to Champions League football, that cannot continue indefinitely.

The Europa League should be Spurs’ major focus outside of ensuring they do enough to be a Premier League side next season, which they will, but how big of a squad Postecoglou will have to choose from remains to be seen.