Cl Knock-out Clubs Pocket €50m

Europe’s top football clubs have each earned an average of €50m for reaching the knock-out stages of the UEFA Champions League, according to new research commissioned by the tournament’s official sponsor MasterCard.

The financial rewards come in the form of a UEFA participation payment and prize money (average €14m); a share of UEFA commercial revenues from the tournament (market pool payment estimated at €12m); ticket sales (estimated at €10m); commercial and marketing revenues, including sponsorship and sales of merchandise, food and beverages (estimated at €8 m); and increased squad value (estimated at €6 million).

The study, conducted by Professor Simon Chadwick found that the biggest beneficiary is FC Girondins de Bordeaux, which has scooped €11.5m in prize money alone from the 2009 UEFA Champions League group stages plus a further €3m payment for reaching the knock-out stage.

The clubs that competed in the group stage and did not qualify for the UEFA Champions League knock-out stage are each estimated to have made total average earnings of €32m from their participation.

England, Italy and Spain have benefitted from the largest economic boost this calendar year. England, with a 2009 finalist in Manchester United and four teams participating in the 2009 group stage, has benefitted by €129.5m in prize money for its clubs.

Clubs in Italy, with three sides qualifying for last season’s knock-out stages and four teams in this year’s group stage, have earned €104m.

In the same period, Spanish clubs have generated €96.9m from FC Barcelona lifting last season’s trophy and four teams competing in the 2009 group stage.

UEFA awards €3.8m to each team that qualifies for the UEFA Champions League, plus €3.3m for participating in the group stage (€550,000 per game).

A group stage win was worth €800,000 per game, or €400,000 for a draw. Reaching the first knock-out stage has netted an instant €3m prize payment. A side qualifying for the knock-out stage by winning all its games will have secured €14.9m in UEFA prize money alone.

UEFA will make additional payments to group stage teams dependent on the commercial success of the tournament, which the MasterCard-commissioned report suggests could amount to approximately €12m per club.

The study also suggests ticket revenues have generated an average of €8.55m in income from the group stage, with commercial and marketing revenues accounting for a further €6m on average and squad values increasing by an average of €5m on the back of qualification for the knock-out stage.

This means that the average economic boost derived from qualifying through the group stage can be split up as 28% due to UEFA prize money, 24% due to the UEFA market pool payment, 20% due to ticket revenues, 16% due to commercial and marketing revenues, and 12% due to increases in player value.

UEFA prize money adds €3.3m for each quarter-finalist, €4m for each semi-finalist, €5.2m for the runners-up and €9m for the winners.

According to the MasterCard study, the side that lifts the UEFA Champions League Trophy in Madrid in May 2010 could earn up to a total of €31.2m in prize money alone, before significant additional revenues are factored in.

With full prize, commercial and marketing revenues, MasterCard-commissioned research for the UEFA Champions League Final held in Rome in 2009 found it was worth more than €110m to the winners, FC Barcelona, and at least €65m to the runners-up, Manchester United – demonstrating that prize money is less than half the story.