Arsenal's £100m boost if they can beat Real

Being in the Champions League is an increasing differentiator between clubs, but those clubs who have been leading ones for some time earn more. The Uefa coefficient is less of a factor that when Arsene Wenger liked to parade it around Islington, but Arsenal still stand to do well.

Arsenal’s prize money and bonuses from the Champions League this season will top £100million should they overcome Real Madrid in the quarter-finals as the club seek to benefit from Uefa’s new distribution model.

As well as changing the format of its elite club competition, Uefa has changed its revenue distribution system so that there are more financial rewards for performance during the season, rather than for historical success.

It also shows why, financially at least, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur should make winning the Europa League and qualifying for next season’s Champions League their priority.

The pot of money for the Champions League has risen by more than 20 per cent, compared with last season, and Uefa has brought in proportionately bigger bonuses for wins, for where clubs finished in the new 36-team league table, and for reaching the knockout rounds. There is proportionately less — though still substantial sums— in the pot based on clubs’ coefficient ranking, which is calculated by historical performances in Europe.

That has meant that Manchester City’s failure to reach the knockout rounds is reflected in estimated earnings of about £64million, while Aston Villa have earned at least £71million by reaching the quarter-finals, according to the football finance expert Kieron O’Connor, who writes the Swiss Ramble blog.

Those figures include City earning £29.3million from the “value pillar” of the Champions League, which partly reflects coefficients, which was double Villa’s from that source — Villa benefited more from the performance bonuses.

“The dreaded Uefa coefficient, which buttressed the elite, is still in there but it is now less of a factor,” O’Connor said. “It does still work against clubs such as Aston Villa that haven’t qualified for ages, which helps explain why their earnings are below Liverpool’s even though they have progressed further.”

The eventual winners of the Champions League could earn €160million — around four times as much as the Europa League winners. But the chance of getting into next season’s Champions League through winning the Europa League is a huge carrot.

Earnings in the Conference League are even smaller — Chelsea, England’s representatives, have earned about £10million but that could more than double if they win the competition.

It's no deal say Spurs insiders over Taiwanese takeover

Senior figures at Tottenham Hotspur insisted on Friday that they had not been informed of any deal to sell Daniel Levy’s stake in the club. A business group, Eight Sports Capital — which is said to include a billionaire Taiwanese financier — claimed that it had an agreement in place to buy a 24.99 per cent stake in ENIC, the club’s majority owners, from Levy, who owns 29.88 per cent. The Times has been told Ng Wing Fai and Brooklyn Earick form part of the group, having both been linked previously to potential takeovers of the Premier League club. The Taiwanese businessman, Richard Tsai, is also said to be part of the consortium. He is reportedly worth £7 billion. Last year Earick, the former DJ and tech entrepreneur, was part of an attempted £4.5 billion takeover, which was “unequivocally rejected” by Spurs. An ENIC spokesperson said: “We can confirm that neither ENIC nor THFC are aware of any sale by Daniel Levy’s Family Trust of its minority stake in ENIC, THFC’...

Reports about Charlton sale exaggerated

Reports have appeared in The Guardian and elsewhere that Charlton has been put up for sale. Richard Cawley is an authoritative local journalist who runs a South London Sport substack site. He reached out to the club yesterday evening to ask for comment on The Guardian’s article. Early indications from the club have been that nothing has changed since the story about them seeking investment, except that it is now a different company doing it. Charlton have since managed to consolidate their place in the Championship, avoiding an instant return to League One, with their women’s side promoted to the WSL, returning to the top flight for the first time since 2007, although staying there is likely to be costly. It would be counter-intuitive for owners Global Football Partners not to progress the club when looking for investment, that the focus remains on driving it forward, that their spend this summer is in line with long-term planning and will see an increase in wages spent on players...

Hull City's 'strange' loan

When football finance guru Kieran Maguire seems flashing lights in a club's loan deal, I become concerned. He is the leading football finance expert in the UK. Hull City have borrowed £55m against their stadium and training ground yet they should get £30m from the Premier League before long. What is going on? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cpwel48y51do

The Political Economy of Football V2

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