New Champions League format and how much Aston Villa could earn if they qualify.

Birmingham’s Aston Villa newslive as Unai Emery’s team aims to qualify for the Champions League this year.

If Aston Villa makes it into the Champions League this season, they will be awarded a substantial sum of money.The goal for Unai Emery’s team is to stay in the top four until the end of the season, and they have every right to think they can.

Villa was only surpassed in league points and games won by Premier League champions Manchester City in 2023. However, Emery’s team will face additional pressure as they attempt to balance their domestic responsibilities with the European Conference League knockouts.

Villa are favourites to win the Europa Conference League and end the club’s long wait for silverware having already booked their place in the round of 16. They are also fourth in the Premier League and have an FA Cup fourth-round tie too look forward to this Friday. This season, finishing in fifth place might be enough for Villa to claim Champions League football, but this will not be clear until the end of the campaign.

Instead of playing six group stage matches, teams will play eight, while the schedule will still be determined by a group stage draw. Each club will be picked to play two opponents, one at home and one away, after the draw is seeded using four separate pots.

A club can automatically advance to the round of sixteen if it finishes in the top eight of the league; clubs who finish ninth through twenty-four must play in the play-off round. Because rankings will decide who plays who in the play-off round, there won’t be a draw. For instance, the club in ninth place will play the team that ends in 24th place.

How much could Villa earn?

UEFA earns significant sums through collectively selling broadcasting rights, commercial rights and tickets/hospitality for the Champions League. They then distribute those sums back to participating teams using a complex financial distribution model. This season, the total Champions League revenue pot is around £2bn.

There are several different ways in which sides participating in the Champions League gained prize money this term. About 55 per cent of the total prize pot is distributed amongst the clubs as a reward for their results in the competition. The other 45 per cent is split across the complete 32 group stage participants in two separate ways.

All 32 clubs participating in the Champions League group stage receive approximately thirty percent of the prize money, which is determined by a coefficient that evaluates each club’s performance in Europe over a ten-year period. After that, clubs are rated using this formula, and clubs who win European titles are awarded bonus points. The money is then distributed in shares based on a team’s ranking. The winning team receives 32 shares, or approximately £30 million, while the bottom-ranked team receives one share, or roughly £1 million.

The remaining fifteen percent of the prize money, or about £255 million, is given to the clubs in addition to being available as part of the broadcast revenue. £13.37 million was paid to the teams that made it to the Champions League group stage this season. Over the course of the six group stage matches that clubs participated in, this figure was increased by £2.4 million for victories and £795k for draws.

Here’s a breakdown of the prize money available…

Winner: £17.1m

Runner-up: £13.35m

Semi-finalist: £10.70m

Quarter-finalist: £9m

Last 16: £8.2m

Group stage win: £2.4m

Group stage draw: 795k

Reaching group stage: 13.37m