ARSENAL’S 100 per cent Champions League campaign has helped earn the Gunners a stunning £85m Uefa cash windfall – so far.
Mikel Arteta’s men became the first side to complete a clean sweep of their league stage fixtures with Wednesday’s 3-2 win over Kazakh minnows Kairat.
It confirmed Arsenal finished top of a table dominated by Premier League sides, with Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester City all joining them in the top eight, who will automatically go through to the last 16, although Newcastle just missed out.
And with potentially a further £45.5m in additional prize money on offer for all clubs in the knock-out phase, Prem sides are set to rake in more than half a BILLION between them by the end of the season.
Arsenal’s total so far now stands at £85.3m. Winning all eight games and finishing at the summit of the 36-team league was worth £24.4m to Arsenal, in addition to the extra £11.3m bonus to all the teams in the top eight.
Even so, their total earnings are only just above Liverpool’s £84m.
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That is because the Anfield side took a greater share of the initial TV and rankings pool, meaning they began the tournament with £52.9m before kicking a ball compared to Arsenal’s £49.6m.
It is also why, despite finishing fourth in the table after eight games and only one defeat, Spurs have still earned less than both Chelsea and Manchester City, who were placed below them.
Indeed, after starting with the biggest pot, of £54.6m, Pep Guardiola’s side have now earned £83.2m.
Chelsea’s total earnings are at £79.8m, while Tottenham, who picked up a comparatively modest £43.8m up front, have now banked £74.1m.
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That, though, is more than twice their TOTAL earnings from last season’s Europa League winning campaign.
Had Harvey Barnes converted his late chance against PSG, Newcastle would have made it six out of six in the top eight.
Instead, while the Toon will pick up a further £9.5m if they can get through the first knock-out round, they are the relative paupers of the English sides.
Having started with £28.5m guaranteed, Newcastle’s total earnings are now £45.3m, barely half the amount earned by Arsenal, Liverpool and City and way adrift of the other two as well.
But with all six English competitors making the knock-out stage – and making it even more likely that the Prem’s fifth team will earn a Champions League berth for next season – the total amount earned by them so far stands at a staggering £451.7m.
