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Champions League: who benefits financially so far?

Calculations by the authoritative Swiss Ramble suggest that three clubs have already received more than €90m from this season’s Champions League, namely Liverpool €100m, Arsenal €91m and Barcelona €90m.  They are closely followed by Bayer Leverkusen €89m, Atletico Madrid €86m and Inter €86m.   The top eight clubs have all banked more than €30m in prize money, ranging from Liverpool’s €38.3m to Aston Villa’s €32.7m

The country that has earned most to date from the Champions League is Germany with €349m, just ahead of England €340m, followed by Italy €310m, Spain €291m and France €272m.  There is then a big gap from the Big Five leagues to Portugal €112m and Netherlands €107m, both of whom have two clubs in this season’s Champions League.

If we instead look at the average per club, then the dominance of the Premier League becomes apparent, as England are by far the highest with €85m, comfortably ahead of Spain €73m, Germany €70m, France €68m and Italy €62m.

Clearly, one of the drivers of the new format is money, with the revenue available for distribution to Champions League clubs increasing by a chunky 21% (€435m) from €2.0 bln to €2.5 bln. That’s pretty impressive, given that many recent domestic broadcasting deals have struggled to deliver any growth or even seen falls in their value.

One point worth noting is the quiet revolution in the distribution mechanism, as two of the previous elements, namely the TV pool and UEFA coefficient, have been combined into a new “value pillar”.

Each of the 36 clubs that qualify for the league phase received a participation fee of €18.62m, which is 19% higher than the previous cycle’s €15.64m.   This element is more important for clubs from smaller countries, as it makes up a much larger proportion of their earnings.

The maximum amount a club could earn in prize money, including the participation fee, has increased by €26m (30%) from €85m to €111m.

Arsenal’s earnings versus City

Let’s take Arsenal as an example of how the prize money is calculated. The Gunners won six games in the league phase, which was worth €12.6m (6 x €2.1m), and drew another game, which was worth €700k.

As they finished third in the overall league, this ranking gave them €10.0m plus another €2m for finishing in the top eight places. Finally, they are guaranteed €11m after reaching the last 16. In total, this gives Arsenal €36.3m prize money.

In contrast, Manchester City’s prize money currently is only €13.1m, made up of three wins (€6.3m), two draws (€1.4m), league ranking €4.4m and knockout round €1m.

Comparing Liverpool and Villa

The value pillar still rewards the leading clubs, while dampening money for the newer arrivals. As an example, let’s compare Liverpool €100m and Aston Villa €71m:

  • Both clubs received the same participation fee of €18.6m.
  • Liverpool understandably earned more prize money, as they finished top of the league phase, but the difference was relatively small at only €5.6m.
  • The real distinguishing factor was the value pillar, where Liverpool’s €43.2m was more than twice as much as Villa’s €19.5m.

Scotland

One of the clubs that has clearly benefited from the new Champions League format is Celtic, who had three wins in their eight league games, thus securing qualification to the next phase, whereas they only had one win in the previous two seasons combined.

This has earned them €45m to date, split between participation fee €18.6m, prize money €14.1m and value pillar €12.5m. It should be noted that the latter element is estimated: the UEFA coefficients included in the calculation are known, but the TV deal for the club market value element is based on the latest available TV pool payments from 2022/23.

The Swiss Ramble reckons that a seventh Champions League title would bring them an incredible €153m (or £128m at the current exchange rate), which might just be enough to give Mo Salah a decent new contract.

The new format

The new Champions League format has attracted considerable media interest will serve up even more money for those lucky enough to dine at the table, but it’s not all wine and roses.

The number of games has ballooned from the previous 125 to an incredible 189, which is difficult to accommodate in an already crowded calendar, while this may also provoke a feeling of “ennui” in supporters, i.e. simply too much of a good thing.  There is also the uncomfortable feeling that this could be the thin end of the wedge, opening up the possibility of ever expanding European competitions at the expense of domestic leagues.

Last, but not least, the addition of more games will have an impact on player welfare. The physical workload being placed on players at the leading clubs is already at a ridiculous level, even before the expansion in the Champions League.  This issue is being pursued by the players’ organisation Fifpro.

Perhaps the most worrying aspect of the new Champions League revenue distribution is the impact that it will have on competitive balance. The higher income is obviously great news for those who secure qualification, but the gap to those who do not have a place in Europe’s premier tournament will only widen.

 

 

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