With yet another ineffective display from Liverpool against Fulham, where it was decided leaving all four defenders AND a holding midfielder on against a team that were pinned back in their own half all game was the best way to go about getting a goal, we’ve completely wasted the fixture computer’s generosity in giving us some very winnable games in the run-in. Barring a complete disaster from City and Spurs, it looks like it’ll be another season of Europa League football next season.
/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>
After Liverpool fell out of this seasons Champions League with a whimper, some of the media predicted a financial shitstorm for the reds. But how has dropping into the Europa League actually affected out finances this season? Lets have a look, (by the way, I got my figures initially from the website below, but other websites have the same figures so I’m assuming they’re accurate. Also, I’m not going to deal with issues of sponsorship and commercial opportunities leading to increased revenue either). Have a read if you want to.
/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>
(http://bundesliga.theoffside.com/international/europa-league/the-money-game-champions-league-vs-europa-league.html
/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>
Starting with last season, just for being in the group stage in the first place and playing our games we got Î5.4m
/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>
Liverpool won their group with 4 wins (2 apiece against Marseille and PSV Eindhoven) and 2 draws against Atletico Madrid. You got Î600k for winning a group game and Î300k for drawing, so by my reckoning that’s another Î3m
/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>
Liverpool then got Î2.2m for making the round of 16,against Real Madrid, and then a further Î2.5m for making the quarter-finals where Chelsea knocked them out.
/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>
Some quick maths means, by my reckoning (and not accounting for the market pool money, which includes TV money, which isn’t fixed or split equally as it depends on the TV market with each market getting an amount of money, depending on how much the market contributed to the overall pool, which it then splits between clubs in that market i.e. the English clubs get x amount and share it between the 4 clubs, or whoever’s left in the knockout rounds), Liverpool made Î13.1m just in prize money from last years Champions League. There are estimations that Liverpool received another Î10.1m from the market pool but unfortunately I can’t verify that.
/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>
We qualified again this season, but the prize monies have increased so we got Î7.1m (3.8m for qualifying and 3.3m for bothering to turn up to all the games). We managed two wins, netting Î800k for each and a draw, which gained us Î400k. That’s a total of Î2m.
/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>
So we got Î9.1m from the debacle that was our Champions League campaign. It’s estimated that Liverpool’s share of the market pool money was Î5m.
/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>
We’re currently in the Europa League, and guess what? They’ve got prize money too!
/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>
For being in the round of 32, Liverpool received Î180k. Getting through to the next round of 16 gained Liverpool another Î270k. The quarter-final gained Liverpool another Î360k and qualifying for the semi-finals has guaranteed us Î630k.
/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>
That means, regardless of what we do against Atletico, we’ll have made Î1.44m in prize money from the Europa League, meaning that for this season we’ll have made a minimum of Î10.54m in prize money alone.
/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>
If we can make it to the final, that’s a minimum of Î2m and the winner gets Î3m, so if we win the Europa League we get Î13.54m, or more than last year (you also get a large sum of money for playing in the European Supercup).
/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>
It’s estimated Werder Bremen, last years losing UEFA Cup finalists, who, like Liverpool didn’t get out of their Champions League group, made about Î7.1m (including Î4.6m in market pool money, same as Manchester City so I’ll assume Liverpool’s is at least that, if not more) in their campaign and the prize money has increased so Liverpool could easily make more money as they did last season if they make the Europa league final. Figures are from the link below.
/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>
http://www.uefa.com/multimediafiles/download/publications/uefa/uefamedia/83/97/47/839747_download.pdf).
/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>
If Liverpool had have qualified from their Champions League group, that would’ve been an extra Î3m so lets say, for arguments sake, that somehow out paltry points total would’ve got us out of the group and we were subsequently knocked out at the next stage, then we’d have made Î12.1m. Liverpool budget for the season based on reaching the Champions League round of 16, so really the shortfall could be nothing when TV money is factored into things and only Î2m less than last season.
/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>
So for this season at least, it’s not been a complete disaster and of course, there’s a chance we could win and be the first ever winners of the Europa League so it’s not all bad!
/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>
Next year might be a different story though! To make up the shortfall for missing out on the Champions League, we might have to eat into the new sponsorship money, which means less of that will be available for transfers, plus we won’t be able to dangle the Champions League carrot in front of potential new signings either, which makes landing the star names we need all the harder.
/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>
It might mean some heads roll though, which may not be a bad thing.
/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>