Champions Revolution, from the novelty of the format to the prize money: here’s what changes

More matches, more money, but also larger squads for the teams involved in Europe: a revolution is coming for the Champions League

ROMA – A true Champions League revolution. There are many new features that will welcome the teams that qualify for the next edition of the most important European cup. From the format to the prize money decided by UEFA, increased by 35%, there are various items that make the competition a distant parallel, or almost, to the one that is about to end. But more matches for the competition will meanteams with larger squadsand therefore higher costs. Marcel Vulpis, expert economic journalist and founder of Sporteconomy.it, spoke about it in an interview with the Dire agency.

The Italian qualifiers are largely defined, Italian champions Inter, Milan, Juventus and Bologna are certain of their places. The name of the fifth team and the possibility of having a sixth will depend solely on Atalanta. The Bergamo team, in fact, is currently fifth with two rounds to go in Serie A and is also the finalist of the Europa League: if they won the trophy, it would pave the way for another team to reach the Champions League.

“The era of the group stage is now over. From the next edition we will see a totally revolutionized tournament both in terms of sporting format and revenues distributed to the clubs – said Vulpis – Le 36 finalists (until this season there were 32) in the first part of the new Champions League (2024/25) they will each play 8 matches (4 at home and 4 away) against 8 different rivals (however they will be faced with a single ranking, i.e. from first to 36th place). Only the top 8 will advance directly to the round of 16.
As Vulpis explains, “the prize money envisaged by UEFA leaders for the renewed Champions League formula increases by 35% compared to last year, reaching 3.7 billion euros The companies will receive an economic share of 2.47 billion euros (compared to the 2 billion per season on average distributed in the period 2021-24)”.

Not just participation. As Vulpis further explains, in fact, there is then the so-called bonus for results: “From 2024/25, the value paid for each success will be 2.1 million euros and 700 thousand euros for draws they are worth a little less than in the past”, i.e. 2.8 million and 930 thousand euros respectively. “But there is an extra bonus – he continues – for placement in the final ranking where all 36 qualified teams participate. In fact, each club will receive a sum adjusted to its ranking at the end of the 1st phase. The amount The total amount to be allocated to this bonus will then be divided into a certain number of equal shares. The initial value of each ‘share’ will be 275 thousand euros. For example, the team with the worst ranking will receive a share equal to 275 thousand euros”. p>

Once we get into the details of the tournament, “if we stop at the first phase of the tournament, considering participation bonuses and minimum bonuses we can predict that Inter, fresh champions of Italy, could be the Italian team with the ‘treasure’ richer: around 50 million euros, thanks also to a very strong revaluation of the item once called ‘market pool’, based on the last 5 years and the historical ranking”.

As for the other Italians, says Vulpis, “Roma would possibly follow surprisingly, also above the 50 million mark. Juventus, on the other hand, is just under 50, paying for their absence from international cups, otherwise they would have exceeded even the ‘Inter and Milan with a treasure in the 45 million area. Excellent result for Bologna, who, ready and off, would take home no less than 36 million in Europe, thus making the club’s turnover skyrocket in the wake of a qualification in the Champions League which had been missing for 60 years (i.e. since the 1964/65 season), when the tournament in question was called the Champions Cup”.
If we then compare these figures, “i.e. the treasure of 2.47 billion euros destined for the 36 teams qualified for the next Champions League, with what is foreseen by UEFA, also in this case increasing compared to the past, for the Europa League and Conference we realize that the gap remains very high The global treasury is just 565 million to be divided among a greater number of teams than the Champions League and 285 million for the Conference League. Clearly participating and perhaps winning can be a positive thing, especially from a sporting point of view, but the ratio between the Champions League itself and the ‘EL’ is already 1 to 4”.

More matches, more money, but also larger squads, inevitably, in the teams involved in Europe. “The risk is concrete, indeed I would say that we are faced with a real certainty – explains the founder of Sporteconomy – It is very probable that the teams involved in European tournaments will have to prepare longer benches also because perhaps it is good to remember that the players Even if they are treated like super athletes, they remain human beings. We certainly cannot think of them becoming new ‘minotaurs’.” Vulpis continues: “The costs will increase as well as the risk of injuries. The more matches are played the more this could potentially happen. There are international bodies (see for example the Eca) where these problems can be dealt with but the trend on the part of the club owners is to collect the greatest number of revenues because the budgets are increasingly suffering and more and more money is needed to keep the toy going”.
It cannot be ruled out that the situation that will be created could push us to take a step backwards : “When the injuries are not one or two but dozens and they impact the sporting season, even at home, then perhaps someone will start to ask themselves questions that today in front of the new Eldorado Champions they absolutely do not ask themselves. If it is a case that bites its tail? Perhaps no one has noticed that the dog is still there, but perhaps it has been walking around the streets without its tail for some time.”