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Champions League penalty for United

Manchester United will be hit with a £10 million penalty every time they fail to qualify for the Champions League under the terms of their new £90 million-a-year kit deal with Adidas. The clause will come into force from next year and is a change to the existing deal, whereby United were only penalised if they did not qualify for the competition for two seasons in a row.

The original ten-year deal, worth £750 million, expires in 2025. The new one runs until 2035 and the details were included in United’s half-yearly financial accounts, released this week.

Bonuses up to a maximum of £4.4 million a year will be paid should either United’s men’s or women’s team win “the Premier League or Women’s Super League respectively, FA Cup or continental competitions”.

The original penalty clause was never invoked, as United never missed out on the Champions League for two consecutive seasons, but had they done so it would have prompted a 30 per cent deduction, worth about £22 million.

The half-year financial report states: “As a result of the men’s first team qualifying for the 2023-24 Champions League, no deductions are due under the original term. Under the extended term, this clause has been amended to state that a £10 million deduction will be applied for each year of non-participation in the Uefa Champions League.”

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