Arsenal's £100m boost if they can beat Real

Yesterday at 06:22 AM

Being in the Champions League is an increasing differentiator between clubs, but those clubs who have been leading ones for some time earn more.   The Uefa coefficient is less of a factor that when Arsene Wenger liked to parade it around Islington, but Arsenal still stand to do well.

Arsenal's prize money and bonuses from the Champions League this season will top £100million should they overcome Real Madrid in the quarter-finals 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 £64million, while Aston Villa have earned at least £71million 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 £29.3million 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."

The eventual winners of the Champions League could earn €160million — 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.

Earnings in the Conference League are even smaller — Chelsea, England's representatives, have earned about £10million but that could more than double if they win the competition.