Clubs cash in from UEFA Europa League
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
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More than €200m in payments from UEFA were shared by the 56 clubs that competed in the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League proper including a record €14.6m for Sevilla FC.
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More than €200m in payments from UEFA were shared by the 56 clubs that competed in the UEFA Europa League in 2013/14 representing 27 different member associations – the majority of the nations that entered teams in the competition.
Full distribution to clubs report.
The revenue generated by the centralised marketing of the UEFA Europa League – plus an additional contribution from the UEFA Champions League club share – was redistributed among the 48 clubs taking part from the group stage onwards, as well as the eight sides that joined in the round of 32 after coming third in their UEFA Champions League groups. The rewards were certainly there for the team that lifted the trophy in Turin, Sevilla FC, as they received over €14.6m, €3.5m more than any club in the 2012/13 edition.
Sevilla's total was made up of a €1.3m participation bonus, more than €5m from the market pool and over €8m in performance monies, including €5m for winning the final. Runners-up SL Benfica played in the UEFA Champions League group stage, for which they gained more than €15.3m, before adding over €5.2m for their UEFA Europa League run. If most of that amount was in performance payments, by contrast Juventus – who joined the competition at the round of 32 with Benfica – took home more than €7m from their run to the semi-finals, over €5m of which was from the market pool for Italy, raising their season's payment from both competitions to over €50m.
Even the clubs who fell from the UEFA Europa League before the likes of Juventus and Benfica arrived, were rewarded. Wigan Athletic FC, from England's second tier, ended their debut European campaign in the group stage, yet still made €3.8m. Knockout contenders FC Salzburg and Tottenham Hotspur FC both picked up €1.6m alone for winning all six of their group games, with bonuses for securing first place: sides collected €200,000 per win, €100,000 per draw, €400,000 for finishing top and €200,000 for coming second.
Even the lowest payment was nearly €1.5m to GNK Dinamo Zagreb, that sum topped by FC Shakhter Karagandy, the first team from Kazakhstan to play in a major UEFA club competition group stage.
