UEFA has announced the 2022/23 total revenue from their four major European level competitions (1. Champions League, 2. Europa League, 3. Conference League and 4. Super Cup) which comes to around €3.5billion (£3.019billion) in total. UEFA has also announced how this total revenue will be distributed in 2022/23 season.
We take a look at how UEFA generate and distribute revenue among teams participating in four different competitions under the UEFA Banner. UEFA total revenue is generated thanks to Broadcasting, commercial rights, tickets/hospitality and other sources like licensing and sponsorships.
UEFA projected £3.5 billion revenue from 2022/23 cycle from which around £323 million will be used as hosting/organizing competition expenses. €140 million will be distributed among clubs as solidarity payments who failed to qualify for competitions. Another €105 million will be distributed among clubs in qualifying rounds and €10 million allocated for Women’s Champions League payments.
UEFA also keep 6.5% of remaining €2.92bn as administration and operating cost of UEFA. Remainder of the 93.5% (€2.732 billion) is distributed to clubs in different competitions.
How 2022-23 UEFA allocate prize money for each competition ?
Before we get into final numbers we must review how UEFA’s normal revenue generation and distribution setup works. At the start of 2022-23 season UEFA announce record €3.5billion (£3.019billion) revenue from this total €2.732bn (£2.357bn) will be distributed among teams in Champions League, Europa League, Conference League and the on-off final UEFA Super Cup. €2.732 billion is divided according to competition.
- UEFA Champions League Prize Money For 2022/23 Season (€2.032 billion)
- Europa League Prize Money For 2022/23 Season (€465 million)
- Conference League Prize Money For 2022/23 Season (€235 million)
- UEFA Super Cup 2023 Prize Money (€8m)
2022-23 Champions League Revenue Distribution:
€2.032 billion is allocated for the UEFA Champions League prize money pool. Which is distributed among teams according to four different pillar payments
Revenue distribution begins at the playoff stage of UEFA Champions League. A total of €30m is distributed between clubs who get eliminated at playoff stage (€5 million each)
From the group stage onwards UEFA has put together a system where clubs get paid guaranteed payment + performance based payments + TV money share.
Of the €1.95bn allocated for group stage followed system is used to distribute the revenue.
- 25% allocated guaranteed payment to every club in group stage (€488m)
- 30% allocated as “Fixed Payments” (€585m)
- 30% will be distributed on the basis of coefficient rankings last 10 year performance (€585m)
- 15% allocated as market pool which is proportional value of each TV market clubs coming from. (€292m)
Below table shows how much a club can earn for their UEFA Champions League campaign. Starting from playoffs to reaching the finals.
| Stage | Prize Money ($) |
|---|---|
| Playoff Bonus | $5 million each to 10 clubs who lost in playoffs and failed to make it to group stage. |
| Participation Bonus | €15.25 million Guaranteed to each of the 32 clubs in group stage. |
| Performance Bonus | €2.7 Million for every win in group stage, €900,000 for draw. |
| Round of 16 | €9.5 million each for 16 clubs in round of 16. |
| Quarterfinal | €10.5 million for each of the 8 quarterfinalists. |
| Semifinal | €12 million each for all semifinalists |
| Runners-up | €15 million for losing team in the final |
| Champions | €20 million |
| Potential Total | The eventual winners can make around €60m to €75m in Fixed payment pot plus €30 to €50 million in Market pool money depending where they clubs is from. |
So if we look at numbers over the last 6 years, Champions and runners-up have been clearing more money with every passing season than before. Madrid got around €57.4 million for winning 2014 champions league while Liverpool cleared €111m in 2019. However it alot depend on what country the club comes from. English clubs generally get bigger Market Pool and in some cases if only 1 club from a country goes far in the competition for example Juventus in 2015 (they get bigger chunk of market pool money for that league).
Now below table shows revenue distribution by UEFA to Champions League clubs in a single season. The table below is official released document by UEFA so its as authentic as it gets.
We have produced in-depth breakdown of each UEFA competition and its revenue distribution system. You can read each article via links below.