*Mouth-watering riches of 2024-25 UEFA Champions League
*Killer’ competition to be ignited as clubs gun for massive money
*Broke clubs like Barca to go for broke
By Javier Gascon
UEFA has been working on the new Champions League format for six years, which finally debuts this Thursday, once the qualifying rounds have been completed, with the draw for the 2024-25 edition, the final of which will be played in Munich on Saturday 31 May 2025.
It will be the culmination of the 70th season of the great European club competition and the 33rd since the former European Cup was renamed the UEFA Champions League.
And now it will be more of a league than ever, with 36 clubs, although with nuances: they will not all play each other, there will be eight rounds with four home games and four away games against eight different rivals, without the traditional home and away matches.
The top eight will go directly to the round of 16, while those ranked between 9th and 16th will face those ranked 17th to 24th in a play-off to reach the round of 16.
The 12 teams that finish between 25th and 36th will be eliminated.
It is worth finishing as high as possible not only for the sporting advantages, but also because the financial prizes that UEFA will award will be succulent.
And clubs like FC Barcelona, with an economic situation in which every euro counts, can find the necessary income.
All participants in the group stage, will receive €18.62 million. Each win will be paid €2.1 million, while each draw will pay €700,000.
If a team were to win all eight games, they would earn €16.8 million more, to which, with these results, they would surely add the €9.9 million that UEFA grants to the group stage winners.
In descending order, from 1st to 16th they will receive €2 million, from 9th to 16th they will receive €1 million and so on until the last of the 36, who will receive €275,000.
Before playing the round of 16, a club that wins everything could have already earned €47.32 million.
The teams ranked 9th to 24th in the qualifying round will receive an additional €1 million.
The 16 teams in the last 16 will get €11 million.
The amount increases to €12.5 million for reaching the quarter-finals, €15 million for the semi-finals, and €18.5 million for the two finalists.
The winner will not only take home the trophy but also an extra €25 million.
In other words, a club with a perfect record that makes it to the last 16 with €47.32 million could potentially earn an additional €82 million if they become champions, totaling €129.32 million, plus the ‘market pool’ from TV rights.
It’s a tough journey, but not impossible. Even if a team loses a million along the way due to a defeat in the group stage or not finishing first, the champion will still make a fortune with at least €86 million guaranteed.
This is already more than what Real Madrid earned for winning the 2023-24 edition (€85.14 million), without even considering the ‘market pool’ of television rights or the UEFA coefficient prize.
Exciting news for soccer fans! UEFA has decided to up their prize money game, with a whopping €2.467 billion to be distributed in the Champions League, €565 million in the Europa League, and €285 million in the Conference League.
*Javier Gascon
