The Whites’ Champions League income: Madrid’s millionaire slump
The Whites' Champions League income could be reduced by their irregular competition. Added to this reduction is a new distribution from which they come out at a disadvantage in relation to their main competitors.
Real Madrid’s position in the table has set off all the alarm bells at the club, having reached the halfway point of the Champions League phase. In addition to the classification emergencies, since the 18th position (with six points) leaves Ancelotti’s team in a very difficult position in terms of securing a direct passage to the last 16 (from 1st to 8th), not to mention a greater disaster such as elimination, which would shake the foundations of the Casa Blanca, there is a purely economic concern.
This irregular start also affects the pocketbook. And in this Champions League more than ever, depending on the position in which you finish in the table you get one bonus or another and Real Madrid is very low today. An economic hole that is deeper than in other seasons.
With the new Champions League format, UEFA has increased the prize money for participating clubs considerably. Some €400M more than in the 2023-2024 edition. The fixed prize money for all clubs rose to €18.62M from the previous €15.64M. Although there is a drop in the prize money for a win: from €2.8M to €2.1M in response to the fact that the number of matches has been extended from six in the previous group stage to eight in this league stage. Real Madrid has won two matches and has a total of €4.2M ( it has lost the option of adding the same amount due to its defeats against Lille and Milan ). Draws are paid at €700,000.
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Real Madrid has so far collected €22.82 million in prize money. Liverpool, for example, the next opponents of Real Madrid and who have won everything so far, have already collected €27 million. Atlético have collected the same amount as Real Madrid. Barça €24.92 million. A huge drop for Real Madrid, but there are other reasons for this. If the Bernabéu team’s position does not change radically in the last four games left (visits to Liverpool, Atalanta, and Brest and hosts Salzburg at home) they will not be eligible for the €2 million bonus received by the eight teams that directly qualify for the last 16 (these teams will also know that just by making it to the last 16 they will get €11 million more). Those who finish 9th to 16th will get an additional €1M, which is added to the extra €1M that the 16 teams that play in the playoff round will receive (although they will not receive any prize money for a win or draw in that tie). Real Madrid is far from being able to guarantee any additional income.
The final classification is very important
It is not the only handicap that runs against Madrid. The position in which you finish the single eight-match league is very important for taking home an extra pinch of money. The teams will receive a new bonus based on their ranking. UEFA distributes 666 equal parts valued at 275,000 euros. The team that finishes in 36th place, the last, will take that amount. And the first has to multiply those 275,000 euros by 36. So the winner of the group stage will get a prize of 9.9 million euros. The second-placed team must multiply 275,000 euros by 35, the third-placed team 275,000 euros by 34 parts, the fourth will get 33 parts, and so on until reaching the above. The bottom team will only get one part: 275,000 euros. The difference between finishing first (€9.9M) and the 18th position that Real Madrid currently occupies (€5.23M) is almost half of the money that Los Blancos will earn.
The new ‘Value Pillar’ does not favor Madrid either
The famous market pool is now history. UEFA decided to update it and call it Value Pillar, which brings together several concepts (the total distributed by UEFA is €813M). The market pool was one of the economic items that UEFA allocated to each country based on its value as a television market for the Champions League and which was distributed among the participating teams. The further you went in the Champions League and the fewer the other teams from your own country, the more of the fixed portion assigned you got. Historically, it has always benefited Real Madrid because it went very far in the competition compared to other La Liga clubs.
However, in this respect, Madrid also loses punch about the other big European clubs: City, Bayern, Liverpool, PSG… The new system combines the old market pool with the individual UEFA coefficient for each club. UEFA considers that 75% of television revenue comes from the European market (it allocates €640M to pay these prizes) and the remaining 25% from the non-European market (it allocates €213M). Therefore, the value pillar is calculated and distributed based on the same percentage: 75%-25%.
How is that 75% calculated?
It is a mix of two concepts. It combines how much the operator of each country pays for television rights and how many teams that country has in the Champions League. Therefore, if the country that has contributed the most money has four teams in this competition, they will be placed from first to fourth in this ranking of the market value of clubs. This is what happens, for example, to England. Manchester City is first in this ranking. Then come the rest of the English clubs in the Champions League, then the French teams (since France is the second country that contributes the most in this media ranking), then the Germans… and in fourth place the Spanish (the Spanish operators pay less than England, France, and Germany, but more than Italy for the TV rights of the competition in these three years 2024-27). A disadvantage that Real Madrid has to contend with compared to, for example, City, Liverpool, Bayern, Dortmund, or PSG.
A second ranking is then drawn up by the UEFA coefficient of the last five years (the sporting results of these years). Real Madrid is third behind City and Bayern. So the final classification to distribute this 75% of the value pillar is to combine both classifications. Real Madrid is 15th in the table of market value of clubs (TV rights by country) and is third in the coefficient classification, so it has an average of nine points in the accumulated classification. City, for example, is first in both lists, so its average is one. Bayern is 10th in the market ranking, but 2nd in the coefficient, so its average is six. The lower the number resulting from the average, the higher you are in the distribution. For example, Barça has an average of 14 points (weighed down by its 12th place in the ranking of the last five years) and Atlético, 15.5. Let’s remember, Madrid, nine.
That combined ranking results in Real Madrid being in fifth place behind City, Bayern, PSG, and Liverpool. A ranking that serves to divide part of the value pillar pie (€640M). Of the 666 parts, City takes 36 and will receive €34.58M for 75% of the value pillar of the European part. While Real Madrid will only take 32 parts (at €960,000 each) being fifth: €30.74M.
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And where does the remaining 25% come from?
It corresponds to the non-European part of the total amount collected from TV rights, which is distributed according to the European coefficient of each club in the accumulated figures of the last 10 years. This final classification is divided equally. 36 of the parts go to the first classified, which in this case is Real Madrid, 35 to the second classified, which is Bayern, 34 to the third classified, which is City, 33 to Barça… The white team obtains the maximum: 11.53M€, compared to 11.20 for Bayern. However, it is a very low figure for Real Madrid concerning previous editions.
UEFA coefficient ranking 10 years
- Real Madrid : €11.53M
- Bayern: €11.21M
- Manchester City: €10.89M
- Barcelona : €10.57M
- PSG: €10.25M
- Atletico : €9.93M
- Liverpool: €9.6M
- Dortmund: €8.96M
- Arsenal: €8.65M
- Leverkusen: €8.33M
An amount that in previous times served to highlight Real Madrid as it always took advantage of its very good ranking accumulated in recent years. The white team earned €36.38M for this concept in each of the Champions Leagues of the last three years, now on the other hand it is much more distributed in the television market of each federation. PSG, for example, in the table of the percentage of the last ten years is fifth, so it earns less than its main competitors for this concept, although it compensates for it as it earns much more in the 75% of value pillar than in the previous Champions League format.