Europa League revenue put back into clubs

UEFA distributed a total of €134,960,000 to teams playing in the UEFA Europa League last season as revenue created by the newly launched competition was put back into the clubs.

In accordance with the UEFA distribution system, nearly €135m in finance generated by the centralised marketing of the UEFA Europa League was redistributed among the 48 teams taking part from the group stage onwards, as well as the eight clubs that joined in the round of 32 having finished third in their UEFA Champions League groups.

European football's governing body confirmed that Club Atlético de Madrid, as winners of the inaugural UEFA Europa League, received €6,358,740 in payments from UEFA following their progress from the round of 32 to the final in Hamburg.

Fulham FC, the side Atlético defeated 2-1 after extra time to lift the trophy, earned €10,010,114 for their exploits. The English club had been involved from before the group stage, whereas Spanish representatives Atlético competed from the knockout rounds onwards having been in the UEFA Champions League.

The prize money allocated to the 56 teams that featured in the UEFA Europa League's debut campaign amounted to almost €135m. Of that figure, €80,960,000 consisted of commercial revenue, accrued from the exploitation of the competition's broadcast and marketing rights; this was used for participation and performance-related payments.

The remaining €54m came from the television market pool and was shared out according to a variety of factors including the proportional value of an individual club's national TV market. The breakdown of Fulham's earnings was €4.8 for their performances plus €5.2 from the market pool.

With the teams being chief beneficiaries of the centralised marketing approach to the new tournament from the group stage, all 48 clubs in the group phase were entitled to a participation fee of €600,000, plus €300,000 in match bonuses – comprising €50,000 per group game played. In addition, performance bonuses were paid: €120,000 per win and €60,000 per draw in the group stage.

Reaching the round of 32 earned an extra €180,000 per team, with further progress being rewarded by payments of: €270,000 for the round of 16, €360,000 for the quarter-finals and €630,000 for the semi-finals. Atlético then received €3m as winners of the 12 May final in northern Germany and Fulham €2m as runners-up.