The UEFA Champions League is known as the biggest club competition in the world — and the staggering money involved surely backs that up.
According to UEFA, over €2 billion was distributed to the clubs who participated in the 2019-20 tournament, with the winning team eligible to take home as much as €82,400,000 in total prize money (the 2020-21 Champions League is operating under the same financial terms despite the coronavirus pandemic, as television contracts were negotiated well in advance). It's no wonder clubs place so much importance on qualifying — and succeeding — in the annual continental competition.
Every team that takes part in the Champions League (and all its qualifying games) receives prize money, but only a handful of teams claim the huge sums associated with the knockout rounds.
Here's the prize money breakdown.
How much prize money do the Champions League winners get?
The formula is simple: the farther a club advances, the more money it makes.
For the 2019-20 campaign, the Champions League winner received €19,000,000, with the runner-up taking home €15,000,000. That's on top of the money each finalist accrued along the way.
Every group stage participant is entitled to €15,250,000 before a single game is played. Each group-stage win is worth €2,700,000, with draws paying €900,000 apiece.
As mentioned, the knockout rounds are where clubs can really accumulate big sums. Each stage fetches a higher total for the participating clubs: €9,500,000 for the Round of 16, €10,500,000 for the quarterfinals and €12,000,000 for the semifinals.
| Position | Prize money |
|---|---|
| Winner | €19,000,000 |
| Runner-up | €15,000,000 |
| Semifinalists | €12,000,000 |
| Quarterfinalists | €10,500,000 |
| Round of 16 | €9,500,000 |
| Group match draw | €900,000 |
| Group match victory | €2,700,000 |
| Group stage | €15,250,000 |
| Third qualifying round | €480,000 |
| Second qualifying round | €380,000 |
| First qualifying round | €280,000 |
| Preliminary round | €230,000 |
In addition, the two clubs that qualified for the 2020 UEFA Super Cup received €3.5m, with the winners collecting an additional €1m.
Clubs competing in the Champions League also receive revenue based on the television market pool, which according to UEFA fluctuates depending on the number of teams involved in the competition from a particular association.
UEFA's calculation of the market pool money comes from five factors:
- The actual final amount in the market pool.
- The composition of the field of clubs participating in the 2019-20 UEFA Champions League.
- The number of clubs from any given association competing in the 2019-20 UEFA Champions League.
- The final position of each competing club in their previous season's domestic championship.
- The performance of each club in the 2019-20 UEFA Champions League.
The estimated pot for the market pool was €292 million.