Seven Premier League clubs – Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Manchester United, Tottenham and Chelsea – have competed in UEFA’s three flagship European competitions in 2024-25. But how much has participation been worth to them?

Participation in the Champions League, particularly the latter stages, is an incredibly lucrative business. But financially speaking, how does Arsenal’s run to the semi-finals compare to Chelsea making the Conference League final? We’ve done some digging to find out.

Here’s a full breakdown of the full prize money estimates for every Premier League club that have competed in UEFA competitions this season.

Manchester City
Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering Man City behemoth have become accustomed to going deep in Europe in recent years, having finally lifted the trophy in their historic, treble-winning 2022-23 campaign.

But it’s safe to say that this has not been City’s year, and their prize money from this season’s Champions League campaign pales in comparison to the last few seasons.

Still, just for participating in the newly-expanded League Phase, they banked €18.62m (£15.6million).

They received a further €2.1million (£1.7m) for each League Phase win (three) and €700,000 (£587k) for each draw (two). That works out at €6.4million (£5.4million) plus €6.4million (£5.4million) for their place in the table (22nd – with €275,000 (£230k) for every spot).

Man City then received €1million (£842,669) for making it to the knockout round play-off stage.

In UEFA’s new distribution system, there’s also the ‘value pillar’ – a combination of payments based on a ten-year club coefficient ranking and the broadcast revenue share of all participating countries – on which front City predictably do alright for themselves.

In total, City’s earnings from the Champions League this season come to an estimated £65.48million.

Arsenal
At the time of writing, Arsenal are – of course – still in the Champions League, so their final prize pot is to be confirmed.

Whatever happens in the second leg against PSG, the money men in Arsenal’s boardroom can sleep soundly knowing the club have done pretty well out of making it to the semi-finals for the first time since 2009.

Having breezed through the League Phase, their placing and results earning a healthy whack, they made similarly short work of PSV and Real Madrid in the round of 16 and quarters.

It’s estimated that the Gunners have taken home £96.85million already, which comfortably sets them apart from every other Premier League club competing in Europe this season.

Only PSG and Inter have earned more in the entire competition so far, and marginally more at that.

Should Mikel Arteta’s men turn things around in Paris, the club will earn a further £15.6million for reaching the final and another £5.5million on top of that if they win the final.

Liverpool
The Premier League champions looked well-placed to go deep into the Champions League, having been relentless in the League Phase with seven consecutive wins.

But beating the likes of AC Milan, Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid meant little after the harsh luck of drawing a much-improved PSG in the first proper knockout stage.

Arne Slot’s Reds and their penalty shootout elimination to the perennial Ligue 1 champions left them with an estimated £80.91million in prize funds.

That’ll cover a new right-back, at least.

Aston Villa
Liverpool couldn’t find a way past the Parisiens. Nor could Aston Villa. Let’s see with Arsenal.

With the experience of Unai Emery in the dugout, Villa never looked overawed competing in the Champions League for the first time in its modern iteration.

They comfortably finished in the top eight of the League Phase and repeated the club’s most famous result – 1-0 over Bayern Munich – en route to the quarters.

There’s speculation that the club are in financial trouble should they fail to make it back in next year, but earnings of an estimated £69.27million ought to help balance the books.

Far beyond what they could have ever dreamt of down in the Championship not too long ago.

Tottenham
Onto the Europa League, when prize money unsurprisingly takes a major bump down from the riches of UEFA’s most prestigious competition.

Still, it’s not chump change either and as a route back into the Champions League, it may yet prove worth considerably more than this season’s takings.

Once again, UEFA’s new revenue distribution system applies, broken down into three parts: 1) An equal share. 2) Performance-related fixed amounts. 3) A ‘value pillar’ based on coefficient ranking and the broadcast revenue share of all participating countries.

By reaching the semi-finals, Tottenham have taken home an estimated £15.52million in prize funds so far.

They’ll receive £5.89million if they can complete the job in the Arctic Circle and make it to the final, and another £5million on top of that should they get their hands on the trophy.

Manchester United
The above with Spurs applies much the same to Manchester United, who are the only unbeaten side across UEFA’s three competitions whilst suffering by a considerable distance their worst campaign of the Premier League era.

The Red Devils have are believed to have pocketed £15.58million so far, fractionally more than Spurs.

Unless they completely collapse against Athletic Bilbao you can assume there’ll be another £5million on top of that for returning to San Mames for the final.

The Championship’s play-off final is known as ‘football’s richest game’, but a Europa League final between United and Spurs would give that a run for its money.

Chelsea
UEFA’s distribution system trickles down the Conference League, a competition you imagine they never had clubs with the resources of Chelsea in mind.

The Blues have taken home £10.05million in prize money to date, which is small potatoes when you place that into the context of what they’ve spent on the likes of Mykhailo Mudryk.

Chelsea are pretty much guaranteed to pocket a further £3.36million for making it to the final, as they take a three-goal lead over Djurgarden back to Stamford Bridge, while they’ll take home an additional £2.52million for beating Real Betis or Fiorentina in the final.

Planetfootball.com