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Brighton 'will reward players and staff with 20% BONUS' after they qualified for Europe

  /  autty

Brighton's players and staff will reportedly received a 20 per cent bonus after the Seagulls qualified for a European competition for the first time in its history.

Roberto De Zerbi's side will almost certainly finish sixth and be in the Europa League next term due to their goal difference being significantly better than Aston Villa's but need one more point to banish any prospect of slipping into the Europa Conference League.

The confirmation of European football next season has led to club owner, Tony Bloom, to reward over 1,000 staff with a 20 per cent one-off annual salary increase for the brilliant achievement, according to The Times.

Brighton will face Premier League champions Manchester City in their penultimate game on Wednesday before facing Aston Villa on the final day.

Villa are, mathematically, the only team that can leapfrog Brighton in the table but Unai Emery's side would need a huge swing in goal difference to slip to seventh.

The south coast club can finish no lower than seventh as it stands, which would see them qualify for the Conference League if that were the case.

Bloom addressed the players at the Amex on Sunday, saying: 'I've been supporting this club for 45 years and I would never have imagined this situation where we're competing against the best teams in the world.

'It means so much to me, so much to our fans, so much to the city, and you put so much into the season.

'Your attitude, your skill, coming back when we had bad results, which hasn't happened too often, we came back really, really strong the next game and I'm just so proud of every one of you.'