UEFA Champions League 2018/19: payments to participating clubs

The clubs that took part in the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League group stage, the eliminated clubs and the teams that participated in the UEFA Super Cup have shared more than €1.976 billion in payments from UEFA – compared with €1.412bn in 2017/18.

The increase reflects distribution provisions implemented for the new 2018-21 commercial cycle in European football’s premier club competition.

UEFA Champions League 2018/19: payments to participating clubs

How Champions League revenue was distributed

Club competition revenue was centralised in a single pot with the net amount available to participating clubs then split into four different pillars:

• 25% allocated to starting fees for teams participating in the group stage and for teams eliminated in the play-offs: €502 million
• 30% allocated to performance-related fixed amounts: €597.9m
• 30% distributed on the basis of a 10-year performance-based coefficient ranking: €585m
• 15% allocated to variable amounts (market pool): €292m

Every club was guaranteed a minimum payment of €14.5m (compared to €12.7m previously) for participating in the group stage, while additional performance bonuses of €2.7m (€1.5m) for a win and €900,000 (€500,000) for a draw were also paid out. The total €900,000 not distributed for each drawn match was pooled and redistributed to all clubs participating in the group stage according to their number of wins.

Further bonuses were paid for each knockout round reached:

• €9.5m (€6m) for the round of 16
• €10.5m (€6.5m) for the quarter-finals
• €12m (€7.5m) for the semi-finals.

Winners Liverpool earned €19m (€15.5m), while runners-up Tottenham Hotspur received €15m (€11m). Monies from the market pool were divided according to the value of the TV market in each country.

New ranking system for 2018/19 season

Last season, a new ranking system was introduced based on performances over a 10-year period.

In addition to coefficient points accumulated during this period, this ranking also included bonus points for having won the UEFA Champions League/European Champion Clubs' Cup, the UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup.

More detailed information will be available in UEFA's 2018/19 Financial Report, published after the annual UEFA Congress takes place in March 2020.