Arsenal are between Real Madrid and Barcelona in terms of Champions League prize money earned already this season, but they can still catch Liverpool.
The two sides are comfortable leaders in terms of Premier League prize money in 2024/25 and could still meet in the Champions League semi-final with a European jackpot on the line.
As part of the revamped formats for their three main competitions, UEFA announced a new revenue distribution system for how the total prize money of around £2.762billion would be allocated each season up to 2026/27.
More than £2bn (74.38%) will be distributed to clubs competing in the Champions League, £470.5m (17.02%) to teams participating in the Europa League, and £237.3m (8.6%) split between those in the Europa Conference League.
In the Champions League, those pots are further broken down into:
Equal shares – a set ‘starting fee’ of £15.5m for all 36 clubs which qualify for the league phase.
Performance-related fixed amounts – £1.7m per league phase win, £583,000 per each league phase draw and £230,000 per each league phase position (Young Boys received £230,000 for finishing bottom and Slovan Bratislava made £460,000 in 35th, all the way up in increments to Liverpool being awarded around £8.28m for coming 1st), as well as an extra £1.6m for finishing in the top eight and £830,000 for coming between 9th and 16th.
The ‘value pillar’ – a combination of payments based on a ten-year club coefficient ranking and the broadcast revenue share of all participating countries.
Those three add up to one final payment, which for a few clubs should far exceed £100m.
How much prize money has each Champions League team already earned?
The following is an estimated breakdown of how much prize money each team has already earned from participating in the Champions League in 2024/25, before matchday revenue and other factors are taken into account.
Liverpool – £80.91m (finished 1st, last 16 v PSG)
Bayern Munich – £77.25m (finished 12th, last 16 v Bayer Leverkusen)
PSG – £76.14m (finished 15th, last 16 v Liverpool)
Atletico Madrid – £75.23m (finished 5th, last 16 v Real Madrid)
Inter – £74.49m (finished 4th, last 16 v Feyenoord)
Borussia Dortmund – £74.14m (finished 10th, last 16 v Lille)
Real Madrid – £73.8m (finished 11th, last 16 v Atletico Madrid)
Arsenal – £73.55m (finished 3rd, last 16 v PSV)
Barcelona – £73.17m (finished 2nd, last 16 v Benfica)
Bayer Leverkusen – £71.9m (finished 6th, last 16 v Bayern Munich)
Lille – £64.92m (finished 7th, last 16 v Borussia Dortmund)
Manchester City – £63.89m (finished 22nd, eliminated in the knockout phase play-offs)
Benfica – £59.1m (finished 16th, last 16 v Barcelona)
Aston Villa – £58.67m (finished 8th, last 16 v Club Brugge)
Juventus – £55.67m (finished 20th, eliminated in the knockout phase play-offs)
Atalanta – £55.18m (finished 9th, eliminated in the knockout phase play-offs)
Feyenoord – £54.46m (finished 19th, last 16 v Inter)
PSV – £53.88m (finished 14th, last 16 v Arsenal)
Club Brugge – £51.24m (finished 24th, last 16 v Aston Villa)
Milan – £50.49m (finished 13th, eliminated in the knockout phase play-offs)
Monaco – £50.09m (finished 17th, eliminated in the knockout phase play-offs)
RB Leipzig – £48.59m (finished 32nd, eliminated in the league phase)
Brest – £43.49m (finished 18th, eliminated in the knockout phase play-offs)
Sporting – £41.25m (finished 23rd, eliminated in the knockout phase play-offs)
Celtic – £38.88m (finished 21st, eliminated in the knockout phase play-offs)
Stuttgart – £35.24m (finished 26th, eliminated in the league phase)
RB Salzburg – £35.1m (finished 34th, eliminated in the league phase)
Shakhtar Donetsk – £33.91m (finished 27th, eliminated in the league phase)
Dinamo Zagreb – £32.52m (finished 25th, eliminated in the league phase)
Bologna – £28.9m (finished 28th, eliminated in the league phase)
Crvena vzezda – £26.21m (finished 29th, eliminated in the league phase)
Young Boys – £24.89m (finished 36th, eliminated in the league phase)
Girona – £24.57m (finished 33rd, eliminated in the league phase)
Sparta Prague – £23.36m (finished 31st, eliminated in the league phase)
Sturm Graz – £22.91m (finished 30th, eliminated in the league phase)
Slovan Bratislava – £17.95m (finished 35th, eliminated in the league phase)
How much more prize money can each Champions League team earn?
As part of the payments for performance-related fixed amounts, clubs can earn extra depending on how far into the competition they go.
A place in the knockout round play-offs was worth £830,000, meaning Manchester City’s crushing defeat to Real Madrid basically helped them afford a week of Erling Haaland’s wages.
From there, the prize money increases quite drastically for reaching certain stages:
Last 16 – £9.3mQuarter-finals – £10.6mSemi-finals – £12.7mFinal – £15.6m, with the winner receiving an additional £5.5m.
Arsenal are in line for another payment of £10.6m after their ‘ultimately irrelevant’ first-leg thrashing of PSV, while the ties between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid (2-1) and Borussia Dortmund and Lille (1-1) remain in the balance.
Aston Villa will finally overtake Manchester City in Champions League earnings for the season if they hold on to their first-leg lead over Club Brugge.
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