Next year will see the new version of the Champions League come into effect, and some estimations have been published regarding what the minimum revenues should be.
As we highlighted in our recent feature, the top European competitions will undergo some major changes, mainly linked to the number of participating clubs (increase from 32 to 36 teams) and the introduction to a big league rather than eight groups.
The new format will fundamentally lead to two consequences: more matches scheduled – starting from the first phase (eight matches for each club, compared to the current six) – and greater revenues from the competition.
Calcio e Finanza recall how UEFA have in fact announced that it will distribute €2.47bn to clubs compared to the approximately €2bn per season paid out in the last 2021-2024 cycle.
This is money that will also help enrich the accounts of Serie A clubs, in the hope that there will be five teams present in the Champions League next season. But how much will Italian clubs actually earn, as a minimum?
Based on the current ranking, the simulation was created for the following clubs: Inter, Milan, Juventus, Bologna and Roma.
Participation bonus
Starting with the participation bonus, each of the 36 clubs that qualify for the first phase will receive €18.62m (an increase compared to the 15.64 million in 2023-24), a share divided into an initial deposit of €17.87m and a subsequent balance of €750,000.
Results bonuses
Moving on to bonuses for results, from next year victories (€2.1m) and draws (€700,000) will be worth a little less than now (€2.8m and €930,000 respectively). However, an extra bonus is provided for placing in the final ranking, because each club will receive an amount based on its ranking at the end of the first phase.
The total amount available for the bonus will be divided into 666 equal shares. The initial value of each share will be €275,000. The team with the worst ranking (last place) will receive one share (€275k), a figure that was considered in the minimum revenue estimates.
The ‘value pillar’
Finally, the minimum revenues are completed with the sums deriving from the ‘value pillar’, a new segment designed by UEFA to combine the market pool (the value of the television rights market) and the historical/ten-year ranking. The total sum that will be distributed will be divided into two parts:
➤ The European part: linked to the continent’s TV rights market, distributed on the basis of a ranking created using the average between the weight of the individual national market and the UEFA ranking over five years;
➤ The non-European part: linked to the historical/ten-year ranking, excluding however the points earned for the titles won in history.
To calculate the European share due to Italian clubs, we started from two assumptions which will subsequently be verified. This is because at the moment UEFA has decided not to disclose the data that would have been necessary to carry out an even more precise calculation.
The first assumption concerns the division of the total amount that will be distributed for the ‘value pillar’ between the European part and the non-European part.
Taking at face value the hypotheses put on the table by UEFA in the documents consulted by Calcio e Finanza, they have considered that the €853m to be distributed will be divided as follows: 75% European part (€640m) and 25% non-European part (€213m).
The second assumption concerns the position of the Italian market for Champions League TV rights compared to other national markets.
Considering the overall market pool of the past season and having verified – on the basis of press rumours – the Italian TV rights market could well be in fifth place by value behind France, England, Spain and Germany.
Starting from these assumptions, at present Inter would earn more than anyone else: over €32m between the European share and the non-European share. In second place Roma, with approximately €31.3m, while in third place is Juventus with approximately €31m.
Milan closes are then fourth in the ranking of Italian clubs with €26m and Bologna would be fifth with €17.6m, which is not surprising.
The totals
Adding to the last item explained also the bonuses for participation and the minimum bonuses for results (last place in the standings), Inter are the club that will earn the most from the new Champions League as a starting fee with just under €51m. In second place are Roma, with over €50m.
Juventus are in third place, impacted mainly by their failure to participate in the European cups in the current season, with just under €50m for the Bianconeri too. Milan follow with almost €45m and Bologna close with €36.5m.
It should be noted that the estimates in question are minimal and are subject to changes also based on the other European teams that will qualify for the next edition. But Serie A clubs – in the event that there are five of them – already seem to be able to count on a total of €232m from the new UCL
