HOW WORTH IS THE UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TROPHY

The UEFA champions league is the most decorated club cup in history more even than the FIFA club world cup. This is mainly due to the participating teams. As the league is well known for having the biggest clubs in Europe competing for prestigious title. During the last week of May two remaining team’s battles for the cup. Now what are the benefits that the clubs receive by competing in the Uefa Champions league? UEFA the association running the league rewards the participating clubs according to the reached stage in the competition together with other factors.

For the 2008/09 season excluding ticket sales and merchandise sale, Barcelona won the cup and received monetary reward of $ 44,381,601/= while Manchester United received $ 54,879,586/= for reaching the final stage in the competition. Bayern Munich who were eliminated in the quarter final received $ 49,542,368/=. Principles behind allocation of reward and prices are discussed below.

            In every season the amount that each club receives comes from a fixed money and money from market pool.

• Fixed Money: is the money UEFA awards to clubs due to their performance in group stages subsequent knockout stages. There is a prescribed reward for every achieved/reached stage.
• Market Pool Money: are the funds from distributed UEFA Champions League Revenue. The distribution depends mainly on the value of the television market the each country of the participating teams. Other factors affecting the amount of the money a club receives is their previous domestic league position, the stage it has reached in the current champions’ league season and the stages other clubs from the same nation have reached in their current season.

For 2008/09 season

1.      Fixed Money.

·        In Group Stages     -  Participation premium $4,299,533/= per team

                                             -  Group match participation $ 3,439,200/= per team      ($573,200/= per game)

-  Performance bonus ($859,800/= for a win, $ 429,900/= for a draw) maximum $ 5,158,800/= if a team win both group matches but no team achieved that.

·        In Round of 16: $ 3,152,600/= to every team.

·        In Quarter – Final Stage: $ 3,582,500/= to every team.

·        In Semi – Final Stage: $ 4,299,000/= to every team.

·        In Final         - Winner – $ 10,031,000/=

- Runner-up $ 5,732,000/=

2.      Market Pool money

·        The Market pool money for each nation will be distributed to the clubs depending on their position in the previous domestic league, and their level of achievement and achievement of their counterpart. The funds are then distributed as shown in the table below.

	4 teams	3 teams	2 teams	1 team
Champions	40%	45%	55%	100%
Runners-up	30%	35%	45%
No. 3	15%	20%
No. 4	15%

 From the above we see Bayern Munich being the highest Market pool earner ($ 30,760,778/=) as it was the only German team to reach the knockout stages and Manchester united ($ 26,913,173/=) as a result of the high television revenue in the U.K. This was the case even though both 4 England teams reach the knockout stages.

Putting it in perspective Real Madrid earned $ 14,652,425/= while Barcelona earned $ 11,704,744/= this reflects the final standings in la liga 2007/08 where Real Madrid finished top of the table and Barcelona 3^rd. Even though they later won UEFA champions league Real Madrid received higher market pool money.

For the 2009/10 season

The European Champions League will benefit from a record $1.55 billion in marketing and television revenues for clubs and organizers. Each club is guaranteed $ 10.1 million just for participation. So was Arsenal’s boss, Arsene Wenger, bluffing when claimed his team do not need Champions League money? Arsene is a renowned professional economist.

1.      Fixed Money.

·        In Group Stages     -  Participation premium $ 10,100,000/= per team

-  Performance bonus ($ 1,140,000/= for a win, $570,000/= for a draw) maximum $ 6,840,000/= if a team win both group matches but no team achieve that.

·        $ 160,000/= for Champions that did not reach group stages.

·        $ 100,000/= for participating in 1^st and 2^nd qualifying round.

·        $ 3,000,000/= for participating in playoff ties.

·        In Final         - Winner – $ 12,800,000/=

-         Runner-up $ 7,400,000/=

·        If the champion win all group stages they will be entitled to $44,400,000/= prize money plus the pool money, ticket sales and merchandize money.

For market pool money for 2009/10 season, the distribution formula has created a pool of broadcast money totaling $481,000,000/= to be awarded to the teams based on the formula above and the other factors.

The recession-defying figure is a rise of 33 per cent from last season, according to figures released by UEFA. This makes it the perfect time for Real Madrid to get back to its UEFA Champions league winning ways minding how much they have spent to build a dream team. Here we go, its getting closer now and it’s just a matter of who wants it the most.