UEFA prize money: How much Champions League, Europa League and Conference League winners earn

With each passing year, football becomes even more of a pay-to-play sport and one of the best ways for a European team to make money is to win the continental tournaments.

The three UEFA competitions, the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League, can be very big earners for the clubs involved, although the Champions League really is a different beast when compared to the Europa tournaments.

When an underdog makes it to the latter stages of the Champions League, it is not the prospect of winning it that really excited the decision-makers at the club. It is the incredible windfall of cash that comes with progressing through each round, winning a game, and being able to sell out the stadium and have games televised internationally.

UEFA have stated that the gross revenue from the 2023/24 Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League and the 2023 Super Cup is estimated to be £3bn (€3.5bn). They have a distribution plan for the money which is based on that figure but also features fixed amounts.

With the 2023/24 editions of each tournament now in the quarter-final stages, here is the amount of money on the table for the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League.

How much do Champions League winners earn?

Of that near £3bn (€3.5bn) figure, almost £276m (€323m) is deducted for estimated organisational/administrative costs relating to the competitions, 3% (£89.7m/€105m) will be set aside for qualifying round payments and 4% (£119.6m/€140m) will be set aside for non-participating clubs.

With all of that maths in mind, the total amount available to distribute to participating clubs is roughly £2.37bn (€2.73bn). Of that, £1.74bn (€2.03bn) will be distributed amongst Champions League and Super Cup participants. This is the same as the 2022/23 edition of the Champions League which makes finding out what this year's winners will get much easier.

There are different ways in which the money is handed out. Simply through how far a team gets in the tournament, 55% of the prize pot is handed out. You can see the figures in the table below.

There are two other ways in which the Champions League money is handed out. 30% of it comes from the coefficient payout, and the other 15% from the broadcast market.

The coefficient accounts for around £512m (€600m) and it's paid out to all 32 participating clubs based on UEFA's algorithm that tracks progress in UEFA tournaments over the previous 10 years. The teams are ranked 1-32 and there are bonus points for actually winning trophies. Then the lowest-ranked team earns one share (£1m/€1.137m), while the top-ranked team earns 32 shares (£31m/€36.38m). The highest-ranked team left is Real Madrid, and the lowest-ranked is Arsenal.

There is £256m (€300m) on offer for the broadcasting of the tournament. For each country represented in the tournament, the federation is given a share of the pot which is based on the proportional value of each TV market. That money is then distributed by the federations to their clubs based on the following formula:

• 50% of the allocation to a national federation will be divided among the participating Champions League clubs from that nation based on fixed percentages determined by UEFA.
   
• The other 50% is paid out in proportion to the number of matches played by each club in 2023/24. 

Manchester City were the winners last season and they picked up a whopping £68.4m (€80m) across the entire tournament. The absolute most that a winner could get this season is £72.71m (€85.14m) but they would need to win every game of the tournament to really max out the earnings.

How much do Europa League winners earn?

There is a significant drop-off in money when it comes to the Europa League, which is arguably the main reason for clubs to take it seriously. Winning it gets you into the Champions League regardless of your domestic league position.

£397m (€465m) of that original £2.37bn is handed out to the Europa League competitors. That is £1.34bn less than the Champions League.

Based on the 2022/23 tournament which was won by Villarreal, the prize money breakdown is as follows.

The coefficient-based amount for the Europa League this season is £59.59m (€69.75m) and is distributed in the same way as the Champions League. The lowest-ranked team gets £113,000 (€132,000) and the highest-ranked gets £3.58m (€4.2m). The highest-ranked team left is Liverpool and the lowest-ranked is West Ham United.

The broadcast pool for the Europa League is £119m (€139.5m) and that is also divided as was detailed above in the Champions League section.

Overall, there is roughly £20m on offer for the eventual winners of the Europa League, but the real prize money comes when you get a crack at the Champions League in the following season.

How much do the Europa Conference League winners get?

There is of course another drop in the finances when you get to the Europa Conference League, but winning this gets you into the Europa League. £201m (€235m) is available overall to the teams that are in the Conference League.

The prize money element of that is divided as follows.

The coefficient-based pot is £20m (€23.5m) for the Conference League, with the lowest-ranked share being £38,000 (€44,500) and the highest-ranked being €1.2m (€1.42m). The highest-ranked team left is Fiorentina and the lowest-ranked is Aston Villa.

The broadcast pool is also £20m (€23.5m) and is distributed in the same way as the Champions League and the Europa League.

The winners will get roughly £13m (€15m) from the Europa Conference League.

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