Taking part in the UEFA Champions League can prove extremely lucrative for a football club.
As such, it’s treated as the pinnacle competition by Europe’s elite teams as strong performances can additionally bring in more income, especially if a club reaches the latter stages of the tournament.
For the 2025/26 campaign, the second season of the new expanded format, competition organizers announced the total purse for this season’s Champions League would increase to €2.467 billion ($2.88bn / £2.13bn) from €2.437 billion ($2.84bn / £2.1bn) in 2024/25, a slight bump.
The Sporting News brings you a full breakdown of the prize money allocations for league-phase and knockout-stage participants for the upcoming season’s Champions League after Paris Saint-Germain won last year’s 2024/25 title with a record-breaking win over Inter Milan.
Champions League prize money 2025/26
Overall there are several different ways in which sides participating in the competition can gain prize money. The biggest wedge of the total prize pot is distributed amongst the clubs as a reward for their results in the competition as outlined below in the table.
Performance-related prize money accounts for 37.5% (€926.3m) of the overall pot, while the newly created value pillar taking up 35% (€864.5m). The value pillar was introduced in the 2024/25 season along with the new format, to compensate the biggest clubs for their disproportionate viewership draw compared to those smaller clubs which bring fewer eyeballs to the competition.
The other 27.5% (€679.2m) of the pool is made up of equal shares — starting fee, which is divided between each of the 36 clubs in the league phase.
Equal shares — starting fee (27.5% of total)
A pot of €679.2 million will be made available to all clubs reaching the league phase. According to UEFA, each of the 36 clubs that qualify for the league phase can expect to receive a league phase allocation of €18.62m, split into a down-payment of €17.87m and a balance of €750,000.
This amount is the same as it was last season.
Performance-based prize money (37.5% of total)
There are three parts to the performance base prize money. First, clubs will be paid a league ranking bonus based on their final ranking in the league phase.
The league ranking bonus is divided into equal shares of initially valued at €275,000, with the team finishing 36th taking home that solitary share. The 35th team will take two shares and so on until the team finishing top is awarded 36 shares.
The second part is the prize money for each league phase result. Each club will be awarded money for wins and draws in the league phase. A victory is worth €2.1 million, while a draw is worth €700,000 for each club. The undistributed €700,000 from each drawn game will proportionately increase the value of the shares given to each final league position.
Finally, teams that reach the knockout round will be awarded money for each subsequent stage they qualify for, as per the table below.
| Stage | Prize Money (per club) |
|---|---|
| Winner | €25m ($27.8m) |
| Runner-up | €18.5m ($20.5m) |
| Semifinalists | €15m ($16.6m) |
| Quarterfinalists | €12.5m ($13.9) |
| Round of 16 | €11m ($12.2) |
| Reaching knockout round playoff | €1m ($1.1m) |
| League phase win | €2.1m ($2.3m) |
| League phase draw | €700k ($777,883) |
MORE: All the latest Champions League news | How does the 2024/25 Champions League work? | Full UCL match schedule
Value pillar (35% of total)
This accounts for €864.5m of the prize pot and is a combination of the payments that related to individual club’s coefficients and broadcast market payouts. The value pillar is divided into two parts: a European part and non-European part.
The amounts allocated will be proportional to the outcome of media rights sales in UEFA markets and markets outside of the governing body’s jurisdiction concluded by July 1, 2024. In an example cited by UEFA in its competition literature, if European markets contributed 75% of the overall media rights then the value pillar would be divided accordingly with 75% for the European part and 25% for the non-European part.
In the European part, participating countries are ranked based on their domestic broadcasters’ contribution to the overall media revenue. Clubs from those countries are then ranked based on their performances in UEFA competitions over the past five seasons. A separate ranking using the five-year UEFA coefficient of each participating club is also drawn up and the average placement of each club across these two rankings will see them ranked one to 36.
As with the league ranking bonus, the European part will be split into 666 shares and distributed accordingly, from one to the team placed 36th upwards. The non-European part also uses the share system and is distributed in accordance to each team’s 10-year UEFA coefficient. These coefficients will not have the bonus points for titles that were factored into UEFA’s calculations for the 2021-24 cycle.
How much did PSG earn for 2024/25 Champions League title?
Doing the match on PSG’s run to the 2024/25 Champions League crown, we can figure out just how much they earned for their title romp.
First, PSG earned their €18.62 equal share for qualifying to the group stage of the competition.
Then, for their performance portion, they earned four wins and a draw in the league phase, amounting to €9.1 million (€2.1 million for each victory plus €700,000 for the draw). Their group stage run then netted them €64.5 million, including €25 million just for winning the title.
Putting these two totals together, PSG earned a whopping €83.12 million ($94.32m / £70.8m) for their title, out of a maximum possible total of €90.82 million had they won every league phase match.
This does not include PSG’s earnings in the value pillar portion of the prize money, as that total is much more difficult to calculate.
How to watch the Champions League around the world
