The financial stakes for Arsenal in their Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid could hardly be higher.
Should Mikel Arteta’s side progress to the semi-finals, the club’s earnings from UEFA’s new distribution model will soar past the £100 million mark.
Arsenal will net £100m if they knock out Real Martyn Ziegler - Chief Sports Reporter Arsenal’s prize money and bonuses from the Champions League this season will top £100 million should they overcome Real Madrid in the quarterfinals as the club seek to benefit from Uefa’s new distribution model. As well as changing the format of its elite club competition, Uefa has changed its revenue distribution system so that there are more financial rewards for performance during the season, rather than for historical success. It also shows why, financially at least, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur should make winning the Europa League and qualifying for next season’s Champions League their priority. The pot of money for the Champions League has risen by more than 20 per cent, compared with last season, and Uefa has brought in proportionately bigger bonuses for wins, for where clubs finished in the new 36-team league table, and for reaching the knockout rounds. There is proportionately less — though still substantial sums— in the pot based on clubs’ coefficient ranking, which is calculated by historical performances in Europe. That has meant that Manchester City’s failure to reach the knockout rounds is reflected in estimated earnings of about £64 million, while Aston Villa have earned at least £71 million by reaching the quarter-finals, according to the football finance expert Kieron O’Connor, who writes the Swiss Ramble blog. Those figures include City earning £29.3 million from the “value pillar” of the Champions League, which partly reflects coefficients, which was double Villa’s from that source — Villa benefited more from the performance bonuses. “The dreaded Uefa coefficient, which buttressed the elite, is still in there but it is now less of a factor,” O’Connor said. “It does still work against clubs such as Aston Villa that haven’t qualified for ages, which helps explain why their earnings are below Liverpool’s even though they have progressed further.” Uefa also significantly increased the sum paid to every club who qualified for the 36-team group phase, which is up just under 20 per cent to €18.6 million (about £15.6 million) per club before a ball has been kicked. Each club’s finishing position in the 36-team table earned them bonuses that ranged from €10.6 million for Liverpool down to €300,000 for the bottom team. The top eight clubs — including Liverpool, Arsenal and Villa — also received an additional bonus of €2 million. “We wanted to reward clubs’ performances and the results in the season more — not what they had achieved prior to this season,” a senior Uefa source said. “We also wanted to tackle the issue of the market pool that sometimes gave a disproportionate advantage to some clubs or countries.” The market pool was an element of revenue distribution in which clubs split a sum of money based on the value of their country’s TV deal. It worked in favour of English clubs for many years, but was particularly disproportionate when only one or two clubs from a country qualified for the Champions League and did not have to share the pot more widely — as previously happened with Paris Saint-Germain and PSV Eindhoven. The eventual winners of the Champions League could earn €160 million — around four times as much as the Europa League winners. But the chance of getting into next season’s Champions League through winning the Europa League is a huge carrot. “The Europa League is like the Willy Wonka ‘golden ticket’ to the Champions League,” O’Connor said. Earnings in the Conference League are even smaller — Chelsea, England’s representatives, have earned about £10 million so far.
The Times 19 March 2025
UEFA’s revamped revenue system places greater emphasis on seasonal performance rather than historical success, meaning that clubs who achieve results in the current campaign are rewarded more generously than before. This shift reduces the dominance of the coefficient ranking, which previously favoured clubs with a longer European pedigree.
Astonishingly, even Manchester City, who failed to progress beyond the group stage, have still earned an estimated £64 million from the competition.
Meanwhile, Aston Villa, who reached the quarter-finals, are expected to take home at least £71 million, according to football finance expert Kieron O’Connor, who runs the Swiss Ramble blog, as reported in Wednesday’s edition of the Times.
“The dreaded UEFA coefficient, which buttressed the elite, is still in there but it is now less of a factor,” O’Connor said. “It does still work against clubs such as Aston Villa that haven’t qualified for ages, which helps explain why their earnings are below Liverpool’s even though they have progressed further.”
EINDHOVEN, NETHERLANDS - MARCH 04: Martin Odegaard of Arsenal celebrates scoring his team's fourth goal during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Round of 16 first leg match between PSV and Arsenal FC at PSV Stadion on March 04, 2025 in Eindhoven, Netherlands. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
Liverpool, Arsenal, and Villa have already benefited from UEFA’s decision to increase performance-based payments. The top eight clubs in the new 36-team league phase received an extra €2 million, while clubs’ finishing positions also dictated significant bonuses. Liverpool, for example, earned €10.6 million from their placement in the table.
A senior UEFA official confirmed that the changes were made to reward current performance rather than past achievements.
“We wanted to reward clubs’ performances and the results in the season more – not what they had achieved prior to this season,” the UEFA source said. “We also wanted to tackle the issue of the market pool that sometimes gave a disproportionate advantage to some clubs or countries.”