Finance expert Adam Williams has explained how much winning the 2025/26 Champions League could end up being worth to Liverpool.
Liverpool have made it into the last-16 of the competition after finishing third in the group phase.
The draw for the remainder of the 2025/26 tournament was made on Friday, and the Reds are set to face Galatasaray in the next stage.
Liverpool are going to have to change this to make it to the UCL quarter-finals…
Give us your early predictions for the last-16 clash with Galatasaray
Victor Osimhen warms up for Galatasaray (Credit: Getty Images/Gerrit van Keulen/Soccrates).
Photo Credit: Getty Images/Gerrit van Keulen/Soccrates
Liverpool will face one of their transfer targets when they clash with the Turkish outfit, whom they should be favourites to beat.
Liverpool can earn £300m if they win 2025/26 Champions League
If Arne Slot’s side advance into the next stage of the competition and potentially go on to win the entire thing, the income from various sources could reach around £300m.
Rousing The Kop have spoken exclusively to finance expert Adam Williams, who suggests Liverpool have already earned around £95m in the Champions League this term.
He said: “The new Champions League format is extraordinarily lucrative – and it goes well beyond just the prize money that is available to the likes of Liverpool.
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“By my calculations, Liverpool are on about £95m in prize money from the Champions League so far. That’s made up of a flat participation fee, performance bonuses from the league phase, money for reaching the round-of-16, and UEFA’s so-called ‘value pillar’, which distributes cash based on the value of your country’s TV deal and your club coefficient.”
Should Liverpool win the showpiece in Hungary later this year, though, that total could end up rising closer to £300m.
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Mohamed Salah stands with his hands on his hips during Liverpool's UEFA Champions League match against Qarabag at Anfield (Credit: Getty Images/Justin Setterfield).
Dominik Szoboszlai raises an arm to the Anfield crowd in celebration as he holds the matchball during Liverpool's UEFA Champions League match against Real Madrid (Credit: Getty Images/Liverpool FC).
Photo Credit: Getty Images/Justin Setterfield/Liverpool FC
Williams continued: “But beyond that, you’ve also had four matches at Anfield and at least one more guaranteed. Looking at the preliminary figures in the Deloitte Football Money League, we know Liverpool’s matchday income was about £130m last season. When you adjust for friendlies, that averages out at over £4.5m per match. In the Champions League, you can charge premium prices, plus season ticket holders are paying on top of the amount they already give the club for league games. I think £6m is what they would be looking for on a European night at a minimum. It could go much higher. But even looking at it conservatively, that’s another £30m on top of that £95m. So we’re at £125m already this season.
“Going forward, there is the opportunity for two more home matches after the round-of-16. For quarter and semi-finals, you’d have to be looking at £15m in total in matchday income. Again, absolute minimum. Then, there’s another £45m available for the team that goes on to win the competition. So you’re at £185m, in an absolute best-case scenario.
“But it doesn’t even end there. If you win the Champions League, you’re in the Super Cup. You can get another £4.5m there.
“On top of that – and this is a game-changer – you’re also getting a spot at the expanded Club World Cup. If FIFA can repeat the amount of prize money they paid out last summer, there’s another £85-90m available there, if you go on to win the tournament. Even if you turn up and don’t win a single game, you would earn about £35m. So there is a world where winning the Champions is worth £280m to Liverpool. I appreciate there are a lot of ifs and buts there, but that’s the very top end of the spectrum.
“That’s before you get to the inevitable retail boom, bonuses from sponsors and so on. I think that can push the total towards £300m in revenue.
“Not all of that is profit. There are huge expenses associated with competing in the Champions League too – appearance fees, performance-related bonuses, administrative costs, utilities, staffing and so on. But clearly those costs are dwarfed by the total available to teams who go far in the competition.
“Here’s a key point: you also have to consider that the changes to the competition format were all lobbied for by FSG. I can see why some people in the game are calling it a European Super League by stealth.”
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