The new format of UEFA Champions League (UCL) got over last week with a thrilling final league-stage day. 18 matches were played that night out of which as much as 2 were kind of deciders. UEFA changed the age-old format, somewhat out of compulsion, and jury is out on whether it worked or not. As is the norm, there is always two versions of answers to every question. UCL’s new format too has opinions on either side.
We will let the fans and presenters discuss those while we concern ourselves on the business side of things. At least two things have emerged out of the new format
- Significant increase in revenue for each participating club
- The fight for a Champions League spot will be more vicious in the domestic league
In this blog, we discuss about the growth in revenue after league stage and increased fight for CL spot in domestic leagues.
Prize Money Payout Structure
A significant increase in revenue is a big change in the new UCL format. The distributed amount will be increased from €2bn to €2.5bn. The base for whole distribution is divided into two parts, ‘prize money’ comprising of participation and performance ranking and ‘value pillar’, based on TV pool and UEFA coefficient.
As Swiss Ramble puts it, the ratio of distribution has shifted from the earlier versions. Prize money share used to 55% has now been increased to 65% while value pillar share, earlier being 45% is now reduced to 35%. The revised prize money distribution chart is attached.
The interesting thing would be English clubs would receive an additional lump sum based on the value of their TV market and previous history in European competition. So much so that maximum an English club could earn (if an English team wins) would be €155mn/£133mn. Compare it to the 22/23 winners Manchester City receiving £117mn
A cool 15% more!
Could this increase potentially lead to a more competitive domestic league, by all accounts it seems so. On the other hand, could this also lead to a further increase in financial gap over those who are not in the Champions League
Estimated League Stage Payout 24/25
The applied football statistics platform ‘football meets data’ has made a list of payouts to the participating clubs for the 2024/25 league stage, calculated based on the value pillar and performance criteria. The estimated results are interesting to see:
- Liverpool, with their stellar performance, is estimated to get a payout of close to €100mn
- The next 7 clubs, who qualify for the RO16 directly, are estimated to get payouts between the range of €80mn – €90mn, based on rank
- Clubs ranked between 9-12 are expected to receive just below €80mn
- Clubs ranked between 13-25 are set to receive from €50mn – €70mn
- The balance clubs ranked between 26-36 will still be able to receive a decent €20mn – €45mn
A cursory glance at the revenues received at the same stage in 2023/24 gives us a comparative picture as given in the chart (rounded off, approximate range)
UCL Participation
Since from 24/25 UCL, the number of participating teams have been increased from 32 to 36, how does one find the extra 4 teams to participate. The answer is UEFA Coefficient, a series of calculations prepared by UEFA to establish an order of participation. Point to note here, there are two types of coefficients, club coefficient and federation coefficient. One additional spot is given to the association in fifth place in the country coefficient rankings. Another additional spot is given to the ‘champions path’ qualifiers, where winners of domestic leagues without a direct group stage ticket battle it out every year. The remaining two additional spots are given to the associations with the best collective European performance in the previous season.
In the 24/25 season, with the league stage completed, the situation looks very favourable for English Premier League and Italian Serie A to get an extra spot in the 25/26 UCL. However, a lot depends on the knock-off rounds.
Why is this important?
It’s further related to the domestic league rankings which lead to grabbing that extra spot. And every league teams would go all out to grab that spot leading to a more tightly and viciously contested domestic league matches.
In Conclusion
All indications so far point to a fairly well formulated new revamped format system of UEFA’s competition. The system needed to change. One, it was very monotonous and predictable and two, Super League looming around, UEFA drastically needed to do something to get the interest back in UCL. They seem to have succeeded
It still has its weak points like too many games, congested fixture etc. on the other hand it has its moments of excitement, climax day matches and so on. Also, it’s really too early to say anything. Here’s hoping more stability, excitement and of course, revenues in the coming years!
