UK Clubs Get Euro 2008 Compensation

English clubs received £4.14m and Scottish clubs £359,196 in compensation payments from UEFA for releasing players to play in this summer’s Euro 2008 tournament.

Arsenal were England’s top recipients, earning £732,760 for the efforts of players such as Spanish European Championship winner Cesc Fabregas.

In Scotland, Celtic earned £272,989, compared to four figure sums picked up by Inverness and Rangers.

German side Werder Bremen were highest earners overall, taking in £935,107.

England’s overall sum comes in third behind Germany and Spain in the list of top earning countries, despite the national team failing to qualify for the tournament.

39 players from the English top flight, 23 of them from the top four of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United, made the trip to Austria and Switzerland to play in the tournament.

Premier League champions Manchester United earned the fourth highest amount in England, £440,614, while Chelsea and Liverpool came second and third with £702,827 and £607,641 respectively.

The sums are accumulated by UEFA, with clubs receiving compensation amounting to approximately £3,420 per player, per day and also take into account pre-tournament qualifiers.

The payments were agreed to last January as part of a deal to end a long-running dispute between the clubs and the governing bodies FIFA and UEFA.