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Champions League money benefits the elite

The Champions League continues to be a fantastic money-spinner for the elite clubs, even before the 21% increase in revenue next season when the new “Swiss model” will be implemented, so the gap with the “also rans” looks likely to further grow.

Five clubs have earned more than €100m from this season’s Champions League, namely Real Madrid €133m, Paris Saint-Germain €121m, Borussia Dortmund €120m, Bayern Munich €119m and Manchester City €109m. They are closely followed by three clubs “in the nineties”: Barcelona €97m, Arsenal €93m and Atletico Madrid €92m.

As would be expected, the two Champions League finalists have earned the most prize money: Real Madrid €66.5m and Borussia Dortmund €59.2m. The Spaniards have received more than the Germans, due to a far better record in the group stage, where they won all six games.

They were followed by semi-finalists Bayern Munich €48.9m and Paris Saint-Germain €40.6m, then the quarter-finalists: Manchester City €38.5m, Atletico Madrid €34.2m, Arsenal €33.3m and Barcelona €32.4m.

Red Star Belgrade had the lowest prize money of just €0.9m, as they only managed to produce one draw. Manchester United and Celtic both received €4.0m with one win and one draw apiece in the group.

City’s better record in the group stage explains why they received more prize money than Arsenal, even though both clubs were eliminated in the quarter-finals.

Even though they did not make the Champions League in four of the last five years (while not qualifying for Europa at all last season), Arsenal’s ranking has remained high, due to their historically good record and decent performances in the Europa League. This earned them a very respectable €25.0m.

Newcastle United only received €4.5m. The Geordies didn’t actually have any UEFA 10-year coefficient points, as the last time they played in Europe was 2012/13.  Despite Newcastle United having a better performance on the pitch compared to Manchester United, the club from Old Trafford still got nearly twice as much money, mainly thanks to a far better UEFA coefficient payment.

Europa League

Liverpool earned the most with €26.7m (£23m), followed by Brighton €22.0m (£19m) and West Ham €18.3m (£16m).

The reason that West Ham received the lowest amount is they did not get anything from the first half of the TV pool, as they did not qualify via a league position, but by winning the previous season’s Europa Conference.

Aston Villa received €15.6m (£14m) for reaching the semi-finals of the Europa Conference.

Scotland

Celtic were Scotland’s sole representative in the Champions League group stage in 2023/24, earning a cool €37m (£32m) in the process, even though they again finished bottom of their group.

Spain

Real Madrid have earned the most in Spain (and indeed in Europe) with €133m, though Barcelona and Atletico Madrid have also coined it with €97m and €92m respectively.  Sevilla and Real Sociedad were a fair bit behind the “Big Three” with around €50m apiece, albeit for different reasons.

Real Madrid’s earnings would increase to €137m if they win the Champions League for the 15th time when they meet Borussia Dortmund in the final at Wembley.

Germany

Borussia Dortmund’s €120m (£104m) is the highest revenue to date of the German clubs, just ahead of Bayern Munich €119m (£104m). Their higher prize money for reaching the final compensates for Bayern’s better UEFA coefficient and larger TV pool.

Italy

After a superlative performance in last season’s Champions League, the Italian clubs fell back this season, with the furthest round reached being the last 16. The three clubs that reached this stage earned at least €60m: Napoli led the way with €69m (£60m), closely followed by Inter €66m (£57m) and Lazio €61m (£53m).

Milan only got €48m (£42m), though they will have earned more for reaching the Europa League quarter-finals after dropping down to the lesser competition.

France

Although Paris Saint-Germain fell short of the very highest levels, their journey to the semi-finals meant that they yet again earned the highest amount of French clubs in the Champions League. In fact, their €121m (£105m) was more than twice as much as the other French representative Lens €48m (£42m).

Netherlands

Two Dutch clubs reached the Champions League group stage for the first time since 2018/19 and both acquitted themselves pretty well, as PSV Eindhoven reached the last 16, while Feyenoord secured Europa League qualification.

As a result, PSV earned €50m (£43m), including €18m prize money and €15m UEFA coefficient. This was around €14m more than Feyenoord’s €36m (£32m), very largely due to better results on the pitch, i.e. €12m more prize money.

 

 

 

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