A new UEFA Financial Report has uncovered a staggering disparity in European prize money, showing that Champions League participants Arsenal earned significantly more than Chelsea received for winning the entire Conference League.
One of Enzo Maresca’s two big achievements at Chelsea was lifting the UEFA Conference League, despite what many neutral fans think of the competition.
But that wasn’t all, as the former Chelsea boss crowned the Blues as the best team in the world after winning the Club World Cup in the summer.
Chelsea won a whopping £85 million from their Club World Cup win, which is a huge difference when you see UEFA’s findings for the Conference League.
In fact, the Blues came away from the 2024-2025 campaign worse off.
Starting to think Jamie Carragher has a point…😬
Jamie Carragher on Liam Delap
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Chelsea earn £19 million from UEFA Conference League triumph
UEFA have released the financial report from the 2024-25 season and it makes for grim reading.
Chelsea’s prize money from UEFA for winning the UEFA Conference League was €21.8m. (£19m).
In comparison, Sturm Graz who competed in the Champions League earned €28m (£24.3m) for finishing 30th.
Meanwhile, Arsenal, who lost in the semi-finals against Paris Saint-Germain, earned a whopping €116m (£102m) for their Champions League exploits.
Arsenal’s prize money consists of a £16.2m qualifying bonus, a £30m value pillar, £13.9m for the league stage, £12.1m for their league ranking, £9.57m for the round of 16, £10.8m for the quarter-finals, and £13m for the semi-finals.
It’s a shocking difference in earnings that shows just how vital it is to secure Champions League football for a club like Chelsea. Especially with the amount of money the owners have spent on signings.
What is he talking about? 🤦♂️
Sam Allardyce discussing Chelsea's Cole Palmer
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Speaking exclusively to the Chelsea Chronicle, Football Finance expert Adam Williams explains how Chelsea’s winning from the Conference League worked out significantly less.
“For some clubs, qualifying for the Conference League will actually cost them more than they earn. Chelsea get £19m in prize money, plus probably somewhere in the region of £15-20m in prize money.
“But offsetting that, you have to pay appearance fees to players, bonuses for winning the competition, the logistical costs of hosting seven matches at Stamford Bridge and so on. Even travel expenses for getting a the first team and staff across the continent and putting them up in boutique hotels isn’t cheap. So you only really start to turn a profit once you get into the latter stages.
“When you look wider, you have to have a deeper squad to be able to play so many games in a season. Todd Boehly has spoken about that being one of his main concerns, because your wage bill is always your single biggest cost.
“So in terms of European football, it’s really Champions League or bust for a side like Chelsea.”
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