UEFA Reveal Which Clubs Earned the Most Prize Money in the 2017/18 Champions League
UEFA have published a complete breakdown of exactly how €1.412bn of prize money was split between 42 clubs competing in last season's Champions League - the 32 who reached the group stage and the 10 eliminated in the playoff round.
Winners Real Madrid and runners up Liverpool, unsurprisingly, sit among the highest earners.
Every club in the group stage received €12.7m just for being there, while those who had come through the qualifying rounds had already pocketed €2m for that. Additional prize money was then handed out for a team's performance (bonuses for wins or draws).
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Reaching the Round of 16 was worth €6m, reaching the quarter finals was worth a further €6.5m, then anyone in the semi-finals got another €7.5m. Winning the whole thing brought an additional windfall of €15m for Real Madrid, while Liverpool got an €11m bonus as finalists.
Every club in the group stage also got a share of the 'market pool' that was divided based on the value of the television market in each country. The handful of clubs knocked out in the playoff round that had a team from their country in the group also got a small cut of the 'market pool'.
Given that they lifted the trophy, Real Madrid unsurprisingly took home the most in Champions League prize money for last season at €88.7m. Liverpool (€81.3m) did not receive the second biggest prize money pot, that honour instead went to beaten semi-finalists Roma (€83.8m).
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The main reason for that is that Roma were only sharing Italy's enormous market pool with two other Italian teams (Juventus and Napoli), while Liverpool had to share with three other clubs from England (Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea).
It was for that reason that Monaco, who were knocked out in the group stage, took home €32.9m from the 'market pool', which was only marginally less than Real Madrid. And no team took a larger payout from a 'market pool' than Juventus at €49m.
Despite getting knocked out in the quarter finals, the 'market pool' made Juve the fourth most handsomely rewarded team in overall prize money behind Real, Roma and Liverpool after being given €80.1m in total. The fourth semi finalist, Bayern Munich, received €70.5m.
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Aside from Liverpool, the next highest rewarded Premier League side was Chelsea with €65.2m, followed by Manchester City on €63.8m and Tottenham on €61.3m.
Despite reaching the same stage of the competition as both London teams, Manchester United only got €40.3m as their 'market pool' cut was much smaller. Bizarrely, Chelsea earned more from the 'market pool' alone than United's total prize money.
Barcelona earned €57.4m in prize money for their efforts in reaching the quarter finals. Atletico Madrid got just €31.7m after being eliminated in the group stage, which was actually less than Celtic. Their subsequent winning of the Europa League would have bolstered that, though.
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Napoli and Borussia Dortmund got €39m and €27.3m respectively, despite both getting knocked at the same stage of the competition (groups), while Paris Saint-Germain got €62.1m.
No club who at least reached the group stage got less than €17.5m. That was the amount paid to Benfica, who got no performance bonus because they lost all six of their games.
Top 20 Clubs in 2017/18 UEFA Champions League Prize Money:
Club | Country | Total Prize Money |
Real Madrid (W) | Spain | €88,654,000 |
Roma (SF) | Italy | €83,802,000 |
Liverpool (RU) | England | €81,283,000 |
Juventus (QF) | Italy | €80,057,000 |
Bayern Munich (SF) | Germany | €70,494,000 |
Chelsea (R16) | England | €65,156,000 |
Manchester City (QF) | England | €63,821,000 |
Paris Saint-Germain (R16) | France | €62,058,000 |
Tottenham Hotspur (R16) | England | €61,307,000 |
Barcelona (QF) | Spain | €57,439,000 |
Sevilla (QF) | Spain | €48,431,000 |
Monaco (GS) | France | €46,574,000 |
Besiktas (R16) | Turkey | €43,272,000 |
Manchester United (R16) | England | €40,387,000 |
Napoli (GS) | Italy | €38,967,000 |
RB Leipzig (GS) | Germany | €34,519,000 |
Celtic (GS) | Scotland | €32,476,000 |
Atletico Madrid (GS) | Spain | €31,730,000 |
Olympiacos (GS) | Greece | €31,072,000 |
Shakhtar Donetsk (R16) | Ukraine | €29,437,000 |
