Cashing in on Champions League
July 23, 2013
European football's governing body, UEFA, on Tuesday named the teams that generated the most revenue from continental competition last season on its website.
Champions League winners Bayern Munich secured a total of 55.05 million euros ($72.3 million) in prize monies and television revenues from UEFA. Runners-up Borussia Dortmund nipped at Bayern's heels on 54.16 million euros for their run to the final at Wembley stadium in London.
The top earner from the competition, however, was the Italian club Juventus. Bayern ousted Juventus in the quarterfinals of the competition, yet the Turin club still raked in 65.3 million euros.
The UEFA prize money is split between simple performance-related pay based on progression through the competition, and funds from a pool that are primarily distributed, among other factors, according to television revenues and viewing figures for respective countries. Almost 45 million euros of Juventus' total winnings hailed from what UEFA calls the TV market pool, whereas Bayern Munich earned just 19.15 million in this manner.
After the Italian and German podium finishers, AC Milan (51.4 million euros), Real Madrid (48.4 million euros), FC Barcelona (45.5 million euros) and Paris Saint-Germain (44.7 million euros) completed the top seven. Every club that reached the group stages secured in excess of 10 million euros.
Over 900 million euros was spread among the 32 teams that competed in the tournament proper, just over 400 million of which was in the TV market pool.
Paltry Europa League pickings
The second-string Europa League competition provided somewhat more modest windfalls to its competitors.
Eventual winners Chelsea - who as 2012 Champions League winners topped the overall UEFA list last season - earned just over 10.7 million euros en route to lifting the trophy. Runners-up Benfica were next on the list: The Lisbon side earned about 5.7 million euros for their somewhat surprising run to the final in Amsterdam.
The total available pot of prize money from the Europa League was more than four times smaller than that of its sister competition, the Champions League.
msh/mkg (AFP, AP)