GINEBRA — European champion Paris Saint-Germain topped UEFA’s prize table with 144.4 million euros ($168 million) last season, as the Champions League doled out an additional 400 million euros ($466 million) to Europe’s big clubs in the new expanded format.
The figures were confirmed in UEFA’s financial report published on Tuesday for the 2024-25 season, ahead of its annual congress next month in Brussels.
Inter Milan, defeated in the final, was also second on the money list, receiving 136.6 million euros ($159 million) from the UEFA prize fund that shared 2.47 billion euros ($2.9 billion) among the 36 teams that first played eight games in a single qualifying league.
Seven teams earned at least 100 million euros ($116.5 million) in prize money compared to five that received a nine-figure payout the previous season, when the total pool had been 2.08 billion euros ($2.42 billion) in the final year of the 32-team group stage format.
Aston Villa was the only quarter-finalist last season to receive less than €100 million. The English club received a payment from UEFA of 83.7 million euros ($97.5 million). This was partly explained by Villa’s lower UEFA ranking upon returning to the competition after a 41-year absence.
Real Madrid’s elimination in the quarterfinals against Arsenal meant the Spanish team earned less than 102 million euros ($119 million) from UEFA in the Champions League, which represented a drop of 37 million euros ($43 million) from winning the title in 2024. Madrid earned an additional five million euros for winning the UEFA Super Cup against Atalanta, which received four million euros for that season-opening match.
Inter won at least twice as much as each of the other four Italian teams in the Champions League competition.
Meanwhile, Manchester City won the least of the four English clubs. He earned 76 million euros ($88.5 million) after being eliminated in the elimination round of playoffs in February by Real Madrid.
The smallest payment to a Champions League team went to Slovan Bratislava, which received less than 22 million euros ($25.6 million). The Slovak champion lost all its matches in the league stage.
Money from the Europe and Conference League
The sharp drop in payments for the Champions League compared to the Europa League was evident with the prize for champion Tottenham, which received 41 million euros ($47.8 million).
Manchester United, defeated in the final, received 36 million euros ($41.9 million) from UEFA last season and will receive nothing this time after failing to qualify for any European competition.
The third-tier Conference League paid Chelsea 21.8 million euros ($25.4 million) for winning the title. Chelsea is now competing in the Champions League.
Presidential salary freeze
UEFA’s financial report shows that its president Aleksander Ceferin did not receive a salary increase last season.
The Slovenian lawyer earned “a fixed compensation of 3,250,000 Swiss francs gross” without a bonus, according to the UEFA document. That was the same as the previous year and equals $4 million.
UEFA general secretary Theodore Theodoridis received increases in both his salary and bonus to a total of 2.05 million Swiss francs ($2.56 million).
