Chelsea Tops UEFA Prize Money List

Champions League winner, Chelsea earned nearly 120 million euros ($126.5 million) from UEFA last season, topping the prize money list for European clubs published Wednesday.

That was just ahead of beaten finalist Manchester City, which received just over 119 million euros ($125.6 million) from a total fund of nearly 1.9 billion euros ($2 billion) shared by the 32 Champions League clubs. That total has risen to more than 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) for the current and next two seasons.

Semifinalists Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain each got almost 110 million euros ($116 million), the only other clubs to earn a nine-figure sum from UEFA.

Chelsea’s total was at least 35 million euros ($37 million) more than Barcelona and Juventus, who lost in the round of 16 and then helped in the failed attempt to launch a Super League, which was designed to be more lucrative for top clubs.

Barcelona and Juventus were key leaders of the project, which saw 12 elite clubs try to break away from UEFA control to create their own competition.

The UEFA list shows Barcelona earned less than 85 million euros ($90 million) and Juventus got less than 83 million euros ($88 million).

Barcelona, Juventus and Madrid are still pursuing a legal case against UEFA at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

The nine other Super League members, including Chelsea and Man City, quickly renounced the project amid fierce public backlash, leading to its collapse within 48 hours.

The lowest payment to a Champions League club was 18.45 million euros ($19.5 million) to Hungarian champion Ferencváros, which lost five of its six group-stage games.

Ferencváros received just 1.1 million euros ($1.16 million) from UEFA’s 585-million euro ($618 million) fund rewarding clubs for their historical record in European competitions. In contrast, 13-time European champion Real Madrid was paid 35.5 million euros ($37.5 million) from that fund.

Those “coefficient” payments began in 2018 after pressure on UEFA from the European Club Association, which was then strongly influenced by the clubs who later tried to create the Super League.

The wealth gap between the Champions League and second-tier Europa League was again clear. The Europa League’s prize fund for clubs was 541 million euros ($571 million) — about 28% of the Champions League sum.

Europa League winner, Villarreal got 33.1 million euros ($35 million) and the team it beat in the semifinals, Arsenal, earned just under 30 million euros ($31.6 million).