UEFA has announced that a total of €754.1m was distributed to clubs participating in the Champions League last season and that Barcelona and Manchester United received the largest amounts.
The €754.1m prize money allotted to the 32 teams who figured from the group stage onwards consisted of €413m in fixed amounts plus €341,100,000 from the market pool.
To put that number in perspective, UEFA announced that the 56 teams that participated in the Europa League last season received more than €150m in prize money. So playing in the Europa League is worth on average €3m, while playing in the Champions League is worth on average €23.5m.That is a huge difference.
All the Champions League clubs were entitled to a minimum €7.2m in accordance with the distribution system, which awarded a basic participation bonus of €3.9m, plus €3.3m from the six €550,000 match bonuses given per group game.
Additionally, performance bonuses were paid in the group stage: sides received €800,000 for every win and €400,000 for every draw. The 16 clubs that reached the round of 16 were each assigned an additional €3m, the eight quarter-finalists an extra €3.3m, and the four semi-finalists – including Real Madrid and Schalke – a bonus of €4.2m.
United’s €53.197m was actually higher than what Barcelona received because the value of the national TV market in England is higher than in Spain. The United payment was comprised of more than €27m for their performances from the UEFA Champions League group stage onwards, and another €25.9m from the television market pool.
Barcelona’ earned a total of €51.025m. The Spanish club’s performance-related payments amounted to €30.7m and they also collected €20.3m from the TV market pool.
Barça netted €9m for winning the trophy, while United earned €5.6m as runners-up. The other major earners from the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League were Chelsea FC (€44,523,000), FC Schalke 04 (€39,750,000), Real Madrid CF (€39,288,000), FC Internazionale Milano (€37,982,000), FC Bayern München (€32,562,000) and Tottenham Hotspur FC (€31,133,000).