GENEVA (AP):
Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain topped the UEFA prize money table, getting €144.4 million (US$168 million) last season as the competition paid an extra €400 million (US$466 million) among Europe’s elite clubs in the expanded new format.
The figures were confirmed in UEFA’s financial report published yesterday for the 2024-25 season, ahead of its annual congress next month in Brussels.
Inter Milan, the beaten finalists, were also second on the money list, earning €136.6 million (US$159 million) from the UEFA prize fund that shared €2.47 billion (US$2.9 billion) among the 36 teams which each first played eight games in a single-standings league.
Seven teams got at least €100 million (US$116.5 million) in prize money compared to five that got a nine-figure payment the previous season when the total fund had been €2.08 billion (US$2.42 billion) in the last year of the 32-team, group-stage format
Aston Villa were the only quarterfinalists last season to get less than €100 million, earning a UEFA payment of €83.7 million (US$97.5 million). That was partly explained by Villa’s lower UEFA ranking returning to the competition after a 41-year gap.
Real Madrid’s quarterfinal loss to Arsenal meant it earned less than €102 million (US$119 million) from UEFA in the Champions League, which was a drop of €37 million (US$43 million) from winning the title in 2024. Madrid got an extra €5 million for winning the UEFA Super Cup against Atalanta, which got €4 million from that season-opening game.
Inter earned at least twice as much from the Champions League as each of the other four Italian teams in the competition.
Manchester City were the lowest earners of the four English clubs. The reigning English champions got €76 million (US$88.5 million) after being eliminated in the knockout playoffs round in February by Real Madrid.
The smallest payment to a Champions League team was Slovan Bratislava getting less than €22 million (US$25.6 million). The champions of Slovakia lost all eight league-phase games.
The steep drop in payments from the Champions League to the second-tier Europa League was shown in title-winners Tottenham getting €41 million (US$47.8 million).
Beaten finalists Manchester United were paid €36 million (US$41.9 million) by UEFA last season and will get nothing this time after failing to qualify for any European competition.
The third-tier Conference League paid Chelsea €21.8 million (US$25.4 million) for winning the title. Chelsea are now in the Champions League.
UEFA’s financial report shows its president Aleksander Ceferin took no pay rise last season.
The Slovenian lawyer earned “fixed compensation of 3,250,000 Swiss francs gross” with no bonus, the UEFA document said. That was the same as the previous year and equates to US$4 million.
UEFA general secretary Theodore Theodoridis got raises in both his salary and a bonus for a total of 2.05 million Swiss francs (US$2.56 million).
