Arsenal Champions League prize money earnings near £10m following Bayern Munich win
Arsenal earned their first paycheque from the Champions League last night, after beating Bayern Munich 2-0 in a dramatic encounter at the Emirates Stadium.
Two second half goals from Olivier Giroud and Mesut Ozil secured an impressive victory for Arsene Wenger’s team against the German champions – a victory which sees them receive a £1.1m reward from Uefa.
European football’s governing body pays out £1.1m in prize money for every group stage win or £367,319 for a draw in addition to the £8.8m for every team competing.
Arsenal failed to gain a single point from their first two Champions League games – away at Dinamo Zagreb and home to Olympiacos – but have now boosted their earnings to £9.9m and increased their chances of progressing beyond the first group stage for a 16th successive year.
The Premier League’s four teams in the Champions League only have four wins between them from 10 games – a total of £4.2m in performance-based prize money.
Arsenal are now tied with Manchester United and Manchester City on £9.9m while Chelsea are on £10.2m following their draw with Dynamo Kiev.
Last season the Gunners earned a total of £26.7m from a European campaign in which they crashed out in the first knock-out stage at the hands of Monaco. The team’s performances from 10 Champions League games, including a two-legged play-off to qualify, earned the club £13.7m in prize money while the club’s share of TV money was worth £13m.
Uefa distributes TV money through a “market pool” system which divides money according to the value of each national TV market and then to each individual club based on its position in the prior season’s domestic league and the number of matches played in the current Champions League.
This season for the first time, a team knocked-out in the qualifying play-offs also received 10 per cent of a national association’s market pool money.
Uefa will pay out a total of £312.6m in market pool payments this season and £468.9m in fixed participation and performance prize money.