Why Liverpool’s Champions League qualification cost Chelsea and Manchester United over €10m in revenue

Liverpool and Celtic both cruised into the Champions League group stage this week, costing Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City and Tottenham an average of €13m in the process.

For Liverpool, the financial uplift from securing their place amongst Europe’s elite will be significant in prize money alone.

The Reds and the Hoops both earned €2m for beating Hoffenheim and Astana in their qualifying play-offs, are both guaranteed the €12.7m participation fee paid to every club in the group stage and have the chance to add another €1.5m for a win or €500,000 for a draw while there.

Should Liverpool repeat of their heroics from 2005, Jurgen Klopp’s men could earn their club up to €57.2m in prize money.

Read more: How much is winning the Champions League actually worth?

There’s potentially even more money to be earned from TV revenues, yet Liverpool and Celtic’s presence in the competition means British clubs will each have to make do with a smaller slice of the broadcast pie than ever before.

Thanks to BT Sport’s deep pockets, the UK’s Champions League TV pool is the largest of any European country at around €143m (£132m).

Yet British representatives often earn less than teams such as Juventus or Paris Saint-Germain who have fewer domestic rivals in the competition.

With Liverpool and Celtic both having booked their place in the group stage, that share of €143m shrinks even further as it is split six ways.

In addition to last season’s top four, Manchester United qualified for the Champions League by virtue of winning last season’s Europa League.

And as BT’s deal is for the UK — not just England — Celtic are owed around 10 per cent of the TV pool due to the relative size of the Scottish market.

Without Liverpool and Celtic qualifying, Chelsea, City, United and Spurs would have made an average of €42m in Champions League TV money.

Now? The average has dropped to €29m.

Read more: How much did Manchester United make for winning the Europa League?

United restricted

The Reds’ qualification will sting most with bitter rivals United, whose unorthodox qualification route has already limited their potential earnings from the competition.

Uefa distributes half of a country’s TV pool based on where clubs finished in their domestic league in the previous season, meaning champions Chelsea are due 40 per cent, Spurs 30 per cent, City 20 per cent and Liverpool 10 per cent.

As United did not qualify through their Premier League performance, they are only due a slice of the other €71.5m in TV money set aside for how clubs perform in the competition this year.