UEFA EURO 2020 club benefits paid in advance

The UEFA Executive Committee today decided to release immediately the club benefit payments related to the clubs' contribution to UEFA national team competitions in light of the current crisis and the financial difficulties many clubs are facing across Europe.

Such payments were originally scheduled to be released on completion of the European Qualifiers play-offs, but given the challenges faced by clubs that are having to meet ongoing financial commitments while seeing revenues dry up during the COVID-19 lockdowns, payments will now be made immediately as follows:

• €50m will go to clubs having released players for the 39 national teams not involved in the European Qualifiers play-offs.
• €17.7m will go to clubs having released players for the 16 national teams taking part in the European Qualifiers play-offs (not including payments for the play-off matches, which will be paid on completion of the play-offs).
• The balance of €2.7m - related to players released for the play-offs - will be distributed upon completion of these play-off matches in the autumn.

For UEFA EURO 2020, a minimum of €200 million is available for distribution to clubs as agreed in the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between UEFA and the ECA, which was renewed in 2019.

Based on the payment distribution mechanism approved by the UEFA Executive Committee, €70m will be distributed among those clubs which released players for the European Qualifiers and the UEFA Nations League, and the remaining €130m will be distributed among those clubs releasing players for UEFA EURO 2020.

These payments will benefit a very high number of clubs all over Europe and will give them vital breathing room at a critical time. 676 clubs from the 55 UEFA member associations will receive amounts ranging from €3,200 up to €630,000 for their contribution to the European Qualifiers and the UEFA Nations League for the 2018-20 period.

Commenting on the decision, UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin, said: "European clubs are an integral part of the success of our national team competitions. As a result, a share of our national team competition revenues is distributed to the clubs which release players for those matches. In these difficult times when many clubs are facing financial issues, especially with their cash flow, it was our duty to make sure that clubs receive these payments as quickly as possible."

Andrea Agnelli, chairman of the European Club Association (ECA) said, “This represents a much-needed liquidity injection into club finances and is a result of ECA’s joint work with UEFA on safeguarding clubs at this time of existential threat. Whilst public health remains our primary concern, securing financial, legal and regulatory relief in advance of restarting football across Europe, once it is safe to do so, is of paramount importance to ECA and its members.”

In all cases, the clubs to benefit from these payments are those with which the players concerned were registered during the relevant release period. Only players released by a club belonging to a UEFA member association are taken into account.

A full list of the clubs and the total amount received by each will be communicated after the final tournament has been played.