Champions League winner Real Madrid earned the most prize money from UEFA last season with €133.7 million ($146.4m), the European governing body said Wednesday.
Madrid’s total included a basic payment for entering the group stage, results bonuses, a share of Spanish broadcasting rights and an extra payment based on clubs’ historical records in UEFA competitions.
Liverpool, who lost the final to Madrid, were second in the prize money table with a total of €120m ($131.4m) from UEFA’s total Champions League prize fund of more than €2 billion ($2.2bn).
Only two other clubs earned nine-figure sums: Bayern Munich got nearly €110m ($120.4m) despite losing in the quarterfinals while semifinalists Manchester City were paid nearly €109m ($119m).
Paris Saint-Germain‘s loss to Madrid in the Round of 16 meant they were paid just €92m ($100.7m) by UEFA.
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UEFA said the 32 group-stage clubs were paid an average of €61.8m ($67.7m) with the lowest payment €23.7m ($26m) to Moldovan champion Sheriff.
Chelsea were eliminated by Madrid in the quarterfinals and earned €91.9m ($100.6m). Chelsea face Madrid again in the quarterfinals this month and risk having no income from UEFA next season as they stand 11th in the English Premier League table.
Barcelona earned €64.6m ($70.7m) from the Champions League group stage last season, then an additional €6.4m ($7m) from switching across to the Europa League knockout rounds. Barcelona lost in the quarterfinals to eventual winner Eintracht Frankfurt.
Frankfurt topped the Europa League payments with €38m ($41.6m) and beaten finalist Rangers got €20.7m ($22.7m).
UEFA shared €235m ($257m) in total to clubs playing in the inaugural third-tier Europa Conference League. Title-winning AS Roma‘s €19.2m ($21m) was the most any club received.
The 2021-22 season was the first in a new three-year commercial cycle for UEFA club competitions ahead of a revamp and expansion in 2024. Teams will play more games in a single standings table — eight for each of 36 teams in the Champions League — which will replace the traditional group stage.
UEFA is making total deductions from clubs of about €83m ($91m) per season to cover rebates to commercial partners for disruption during the pandemic-affected 2019-20 season.
In the Women’s Champions League, UEFA distributed about €24m ($26m) in prize money plus payments to other clubs from the domestic leagues that have teams in the competition.
Title winner Lyon got €1.46m ($1.6m) and beaten finalist Barcelona earned €1.26m ($1.37m).
UEFA now markets women’s football with separate broadcast and sponsor deals, though the Women’s Champions League currently gets an annual subsidy of €10m ($10.9m) from the men’s edition.
