The Money Game: Champions League vs Europa League
By: Jan | September 15th, 2009We’re heading into a new season of European football, which for most people really only means Champions League football. The big question ahead of every Champions League season is of course not who wins it – Stuttgart won’t, Wolfsburg won’t and most probably Bayern won’t either so why bother – but who earns how much. The good news for all participating clubs is, that you once again earn more than in the previous season. For shits and giggles I also included the Europa League to see if it’s still as much of a financial joke as the UEFA Cup (Spoiler Alert: it is).
Bonuses Champions League 2008/2009 – 2009/2010
Group Stage (fixed): €5.4m – €7.1m
Group Stage Victory: €600k – €800k
Group Stage Draw: €300k – €400k
Round of 16: €2.2m – €3m
Quarterfinal: €2.5m – €3.3m
Semifinal: €3m – €4m
Losing Finalist: €4m – €5.2m
Winner: €7m – €9m
Theoretical Maximum: €23.7m – €31.2m
Bonuses UEFA Cup/Europa League 2008/2009 – 2009/2010
Group Stage (fixed): €115k – €900k
Group Stage Victory: €40k – €120k
Group Stage Draw: €20k – €60k
Round of 32: €70k – €180k
Round of 16: €70k – €270k
Quarterfinal: €300k – €360k
Semifinal: €600k – €630k
Losing Finalist: €1.5m – €2m
Winner: €2.5m – €3m
Theoretical Maximum: €3.815m (CL 6.2x more) – €6.06m (CL 5.1x more)
Now, I was probably a bit harsh on the Europa League. The early stages of the competition have been boosted quite a bit, while the quarter- and semifinal bonuses remained virtually untouched. The new group stage also means three guaranteed home games compared to two in the old UEFA Cup. The gap between the two European competitions remains immense though and is further widened with the help of the somewhat complicated market pool.
The Market Pool
Apart from bonus payments, clubs also receive money from the market pool, which makes up 40% of the money UEFA allocated for the Champions League or Europa League respectively. The money from this pool is paid out to the clubs in relation to factors like the amount the club’s home market contributed to the market pool, how far the club advanced in the competition in relation to other clubs from the same league and so on and so on. In case of the old UEFA Cup it’s also worth pointing out that UEFA’s central marketing didn’t kick in until the quarterfinal stage, so only clubs that participated from this stage onwards were paid out. On the other hand, clubs were free to market themselves in the early stages and ideally earn good money from TV rights (large fanbase, attractive draw permitting). The new Europa League is marketed centrally from the group stage onwards.
To give you a better feel, here are some real life examples of money Bundesliga clubs earned last season (combined bonuses and market pool):
Bayern Munich €34.566m (CL)
Group Stage Fixed: €5.4m, Group Stage Performance: €3m, Round of 16: €2.2m, Quarterfinals: €2.5m, Market Pool: €21.466m
Werder Bremen €22.272m (CL)
Group Stage Fixed: €5.4m, Group Stage Performance: €1.8m, Market Pool: €15.072m
Hertha Berlin €275k (UC)
Group Stage Fixed: €215k, Group Stage Performance: €60k
Hamburger SV €3.7m (UC)
Fixed: €215k, Performance: €120k, Round of 32: €70k, Round of 16: €70k, Quarterfinal: €300k, Semifinal: €600k, Market Pool: €2.339.850
Werder Bremen €7m (UC)
Quarter Final: €300k, Semifinal: €600k, Losing Finalist: €1.5m, Market Pool: €4.654.850
Both Bayern and Bremen benefitted from Schalke’s Champions League qualification failure and thus only had to share the market pool between themselves. Bayern additionally benefitted from Bremen failing to survive the easiest of groups. Bremen’s UEFA Cup final appearance meant they earned almost twice as much in the UEFA Cup alone than their northern rivals Hamburg. The €22m they got from the Champions League just adds further insult to injury. In case of the puny numbers by Hertha and Hamburg it’s worth mentioning that both were able to sell some TV rights for their home matches, which don’t show up here. In case of Hertha there were the games against Benfica and Galatasaray and in case of Hamburg there were games against Ajax, Aston Villa, Nijmegen and Galatasaray. Both clubs probably got between €500k to a maximum of €1m for each game.
Some Related Bundesliga Posts:
Category: Data
Comments
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Some good info, thank you.
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Fascinating stuff Jan. Perhaps almost as interesting as the money game this season is the coefficient battle between the Bundesliga and Serie A. It will be an uphill fight, but if things break right, we can get up to 3rd this season. The fact that Hamburg is in the Europa League is probably a really good contributor to this, but it will really be sweet if Bayern and Bordeaux can emerge from Group A, and Wolfsburg can find their way through. Stuttgart and Hertha on the other hand, I am not optimistic about in Europe at least.
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Does this include TV bonuses as well?
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Jan, I have to salute you. What research you have done.
And even though there is still quite a financial gap of being in the Champions League and the Europa League, there is an increment across the board.
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@Luke: I think Serie A has a strong lineup of teams in this season’s competitions, so I can’t really see the Bundesliga achieving a 2.6 point advantage – or whatever is needed. We’ll see. I have some concerns about Wolfsburg and I’m not quite as pessimistic about Stuttgart yet. The team has to find its’ rhythm and adapt to Babbel’s rotation policy and if that works out, the team will have a chance to make it to the next round as well.
@Jack: There are no TV bonuses but only the market pool which includes TV, sponsors etc.
@Diana: We’ll still have to wait for the final numbers UEFA will release after the full Europa League season. Especially how much extra cash there was in the market pool. Depending on that result the gap may have closed a little bit but could have even widened. And this way or the other – as it stands the CL massively distorts financial fair play in domestic leagues.
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