With a long old way to go, some teams have already banked £50m or more from the 2026/27 Champions League season so far.
There is a reason that eight of [**Europe’s biggest spenders in the 2026 summer transfer window**](https://www.football365.com/news/summer-2026-transfer-window-biggest-spenders-clubs) came from the Premier League, including all five Champions League qualifiers: prize money.
The financial reward on offer in numerous competitions are preposterous and perhaps no more so than in the Champions League, in which clubs can earn well in excess of nine figures.
**How does Champions League prize money work now?**
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As part of the revamped formats for their three main competitions, UEFA announced a revenue distribution system for how the total prize money of around **£2.88billion** would be allocated each season up to 2026/27.
Just over **£2.1bn** (74.38%) will be distributed to clubs competing in the Champions League and Super Cup, **£490.7m** (17.02%) to teams participating in the Europa League, and **£247.5m** (8.6%) split between those in the Europa Conference League.
In the Champions League, the pot is further broken down into:
1) Equal shares (£581.7m/27.5%) – a set ‘starting fee’ of **£16.2m** for all 36 clubs which qualify for the league phase, who are guaranteed this money regardless of subsequent results in the competition.
2) Performance-related fixed amounts (£793.6m/37.5%) – **£1.8m** per each league phase win, **£608,000** per each league phase draw and **£238,000** per each league phase position, going up in increments from the team in 36th receiving **£238,000** and the team in 1st receiving **£8.57m**.
Undistributed amounts from each league phase draw – **£608,000** – are also allocated proportionately to these ranking payments at the end of the league phase, so the prize money for positions will be higher.
There is also extra money on offer for finishing in the top eight and for coming between 9th and 16th. [**This is how Manchester City, Chelsea and Spurs made a fortune despite being knocked out in the last 16 last season**](https://www.football365.com/news/champions-league-2025-26-prize-money-table-arsenal-liverpool).
3) The ‘value pillar’ (£740.6m/35%) – a combination of payments based on club coefficient rankings and the TV pool. This can be harder to accurately calculate but will naturally reward the ‘bigger’ clubs and traditional elite.
Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and the Premier League’s four regular European qualifiers in Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa would be the biggest winners here, with Sabah, Viking and Slovan Bratislava due more modest sums.
A rough estimation of all 36 participating clubs’ value pillar payments will be factored into the final prize money total, which for a few clubs should far exceed £100m.
**How much prize money has each Champions League team already earned?**
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The following is an estimated breakdown of how much prize money each team has already earned from participating in the Champions League in 2026/27, before matchday revenue and other factors are taken into account.
1) Paris Saint-Germain – £59.79m
2) Bayern Munich – £54.86m
3) Liverpool – £54.22m
4) Manchester City – £53.52m\*
5) Real Madrid – £51.44m
6) Arsenal – £51.26m
7) Borussia Dortmund – £48.6m
8) Inter – £47.53m
9) Aston Villa – £46.81m
10) Manchester United – £46.72m
11) Barcelona – £46.61m
12) Roma – £42.88m
13) Atletico Madrid – £42.67m
14) Lille – £39.78m
15) Napoli – £39.04m
16) Leipzig – £38.96m
17) Sporting – £37.86m
18) Real Betis – £36.61m
19) Porto – £36.18m
20) Lens – £34.18m
21) PSV £33.14m
22) Villarreal – £31.56m
23) Stuttgart – £31.31m
24) Feyenoord – £29.88m
25) Club Brugge – £29.68m
26) Bodo/Glimt – £29.42m
27) Como – £26.87m
28) Shakhtar Donetsk – £25.91m
29) Fenerbahce – £25.85m
30) Slavia Praha – £25.64m
31) LASK – £24.59m
32) Galatasaray – £23.39m
33) AEK – £21.42m
34) Viking – £20.27m
35) Slovan Bratislava – £20.15m
36) Sabah – £16.81m
**How much prize money can each Champions League team still earn?**
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The league phase really is remarkably lucrative, with money on offer for wins, draws and final position.
There is an extra **£1.74m** on offer for finishing in the top eight and **£868,000** for coming between 9th and 16th, with each league phase position worth **£238,000** going up in increments to the team in 1st receiving **£8.57m**.
That money should break down as follows, before the undistributed amounts from each league phase draw are taken into account:
1st) £8.57m 2nd) £8.33m 3rd) £8.09m 4th) £7.85m 5th) £7.62m 6th) £7.38m 7th) £7.14m 8th) £6.9m 9th) £6.66m 10th) £6.43m 11th) £6.19m 12th) £5.95m 13th) £5.71m 14th) £5.47m 15th) £5.24m 16th) £4.99m 17th) £4.76m 18th) £4.52m 19th) £4.28m 20th) £4.05m 21st) £3.81m 22nd) £3.57m 23rd) £3.33m 24th) £3.09m 25th) £2.86m 26th) £2.62m 27th) £2.38m 28th) £2.14m 29th) £1.9m 30th) £1.67m 31st) £1.43m 32nd) £1.19m 33rd) £952,000 34th) £714,000 35th) £476,000
36th) £238,000