The 2024/25 season marked the fourth season of existence for the UEFA Conference League, which was introduced in 2021 as a third-tier continental competition. Since then, some have questioned the Conference League and its existence, but it is hard to argue that the competition is anything other than beneficial.
The Conference League, be it through their county’s coefficient or their own league rankings, gives teams a chance in Europe that they otherwise may not have access to. While a side could qualify for the Europa or Champions League, they may not be well-equipped for the calibre of the tournament but have a squad that perfectly suits the Conference League.
In its early life thus far, the Conference League has made a claim for being the most unpredictable competition in Europe, with Roma, West Ham United and Olympiacos having won the trophy in the previous three seasons.
Along with its other European competitions, the Conference League was revamped ahead of the current campaign, with a league stage replacing the traditional group stage formatting. In this new format, it is worth asking, just how is the prize money in the Conference League divided?
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All figures in this article have been converted from Euros to Pounds at current exchange rates.
Prize Money for the Europa Conference League
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2024/25 Conference League Prize Money Breakdown
Stage
League stage qualification
Knock-out play-offs round
Round of 16 qualification
Quarter-finals qualification
Semi-finals qualification
Reaching the Conference League final
Winning the Conference League
League Stage
For the clubs that reached the league stage of the Conference League in the 2024/25 season, they were all awarded £2.6 million for their participation. Not only that, but any victory saw teams awarded a further £336,000, with a draw seeing the sides earn just under £112,000.
Qualification from the knockout play-offs and round of 16
Much akin to the new-look format of the Champions League and Europa League, the top eight sides in the Conference League table progress automatically to the round of 16, with teams playing just six games in that stage. Any side placed ninth, 24th or anywhere in-between, progresses to the play-offs, where eight games are contested to determine the final half of the last 16.
Teams that advance from the league stage do so with a reward of £168,000, a number that jumps quite substantially for the sides that were successful in winning their play-off clashes. Qualification for the Conference League round of 16 also means an extra £672,500 comes into the team’s accounts.
Quarter-finals qualification
Beyond the play-off matches, the remainder of the Conference League’s format is entirely the same as European competitions have been in the past. After the round of 16 sits the quarter-finals, with the teams that qualify for it each year all having a tentative eye on the trophy as one of the competition’s final participants.
This season, clubs that qualify for the quarter-finals do so with a bonus of just under £1.1 million, with the quarter-finals being the first stage of the Conference League–other than the base league stage–to offer participants a six-figure sum for reaching it.
Semi-finals and final qualification
The semi-finals of the Conference League, at least for the 2024/25 season, are set to take place in the opening week of May, with the four teams remaining by that point set to battle it out for a spot in the final. In reaching the final quartet of sides in the competition, the clubs will be awarded about £2.1 million.
Then, to the final itself. Set to be played at the Wroclaw Stadium in Poland on the 28th May later this year, it will determine the new Conference League champions. The teams that reach the final will receive almost £3.5 million while the winner will be given an extra £2.5 million on top of that.
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How Does This Compare to Last Year?
David Moyes Conference League
This season’s edition of European competitions are the first to be conducted with a new format. As such, the money that these teams are set to receive differs slightly from what could have been expected when the traditional group stage format was still in place.
The changes made to the competition means that sides receive around £200,000 more solely for making it to the league stage than they would have with traditional groups. Though bonuses for a win or draw are now slightly lower than they once were, as is the amount received for reaching the knock-out stages, from there, things change.
Where once teams were given just over £500,000 for reaching the round of 16, they now get almost £675,000. Similarly, teams now receive around £300,000 more for getting to the quarter-finals than they once did. Those in the semi-finals get an extra £500,000 and the two sides that make the Conference League final stand to earn around £1 million more than they would have last season.
( All figures are from theofficial UEFA websiteand are correct as of 07/03/2025 )