UEFA Champions League Financial Overview: Prize Money Insights for 2024-25

Paris Saint-Germain, the reigning Champions League winners, topped the UEFA prize money table for the 2024-25 season, earning €144.4 million ($168 million). This significant sum is part of an additional €400 million ($466 million) distributed among Europe’s elite clubs due to the competition’s newly expanded format.

The financial figures were confirmed in UEFA’s report released on Tuesday, ahead of its annual congress scheduled for next month in Brussels.

Inter Milan, who finished as the runners-up, ranked second on the prize money list, receiving €136.6 million ($159 million) from the UEFA prize fund. This season, a total of €2.47 billion ($2.9 billion) was allocated among 36 teams, each participating in an eight-match single-standings league format.

Notably, seven teams received at least €100 million ($116.5 million) in prize money this season, an increase from five teams in the previous year when the total fund was €2.08 billion ($2.42 billion) and the format featured a 32-team group stage.

Aston Villa, the sole quarterfinalist to earn less than €100 million, received €83.7 million ($97.5 million). This was partly attributed to their lower UEFA ranking upon returning to the competition after a 41-year absence.

Real Madrid’s quarterfinal defeat to Arsenal resulted in earnings of less than €102 million ($119 million) from UEFA, a decrease of €37 million ($43 million) compared to their 2024 title-winning earnings. However, Madrid did receive an additional €5 million for winning the UEFA Super Cup against Atalanta, who earned €4 million from that match.

Inter Milan’s earnings from the Champions League were at least double those of each of the other four Italian clubs in the competition.

Among the English clubs, Manchester City had the lowest earnings. The 2022-23 Champions League winners received €76 million ($88.5 million) after being eliminated in the knockout playoff round in February by Real Madrid.

The smallest payment to any Champions League participant was awarded to Slovan Bratislava, which earned less than €22 million ($25.6 million) after losing all eight of their league-phase matches.

The disparity in payments between the Champions League and the second-tier Europa League was evident, with Tottenham, the title winners, receiving €41 million ($47.8 million). Beaten finalists Manchester United garnered €36 million ($41.9 million) last season but will not earn anything this time due to their failure to qualify for any European competition.

The third-tier Conference League awarded Chelsea €21.8 million ($25.4 million) for clinching the title, and they have since qualified for the Champions League.

Additionally, UEFA’s financial report indicated that its president, Aleksander Ceferin, did not receive a pay increase last season, maintaining a fixed compensation of 3,250,000 Swiss francs (approximately $4 million). In contrast, UEFA General Secretary Theodore Theodoridis saw both his salary and bonus increase, totaling 2.05 million Swiss francs ($2.56 million).

This report incorporates contributions from the Associated Press.