UEFA Club Competitions – Focus on solidarity payments to clubs.

Deal Club Representatives,

We recently shared in the CAP the details of UEFA Club Competitions (UCC) payments to clubs for 2021/22 (first season of cycle 2021-24) with full explanations about UCC revenue composition and distribution for participating clubs. Let’s now have a closer look at the solidarity payments scheme.

Part 3/3 – UEFA Club Competitions Revenues: Breakdown of solidarity payments

For 2021/22, UEFA allocated gross solidarity according to the same criteria as the previous season: out of a total of 7% of gross revenue, 4% goes to non-participating clubs for investment in youth football development projects, while 3% goes to clubs eliminated during the qualifying phase. This gross solidarity increased to €253 million in 2021/22 (vs €220.9 million in 2020/21), reflecting the higher revenue generated in the new cycle, as seen previously. In addition, UEFA Executive Committee decided that 30% of the net surplus (€33.1m) would be allocated to solidarity for non-participating club. In contrast, €9.3 million was deducted from gross solidarity to reimburse the COVID-19 advance of €36.4 million made by UEFA over 2019/20 and 2020/21.

The table below shows the details of solidarity calculation in 2021/22 compared to the previous season (2020/21) and the split between solidarity to non-participating clubs and eliminated clubs:

Total Solidarity finally stood at €276.8 million for 2021/22, with €172.2 million paid as solidarity to non-participating clubs and €104.6 million paid to clubs eliminated in the qualification rounds.

Solidarity to Non-Participating Clubs - Top 5 Leagues decided to cap and reduce their solidarity share:

The clubs non participating in UCC received a share of 4% of the gross revenue, after deductions and surplus, the solidarity amount for 2021/22 came to €172.2 million. The top 5 Leagues (ENG, ESP, ITA, GER, FRA) received €25 million based on equal shares of the 4% of the gross revenue (they agreed to cap their solidarity at €5 million each), plus equal shares of 50% of the net surplus of €33.1 million. In total, each of the top five associations therefore received €8.3 million (a total of €41.5 million, which is €17,9 less when compared to previous cycle). This “sacrifice” made by the top 5 Leagues allowed a consistent amount of solidarity payments for those National Associations outside the top five, those with clubs participating in the Champions League group-stage received 45% and those without receive 55%:

For comparison purposes, we have also integrated the detailed figures of solidarity payments to non-participating for 2020/21, which was the last season of the 2018/21 cycle. Thanks to the considerable effort of the Top 5 Leagues, who decided to cap their solidarity payments, and the global increase of UEFA Club Competitions’ revenue, the amount of solidarity payments has substantially increased for all European National Associations. Only two countries, Greece and Denmark, received a smaller revenue because both countries had at least one club in UCL Group Stage the season before (2020/21) and did not in season 2021/22:

Solidarity to eliminated clubs in the Qualifying Rounds:

Clubs eliminated in the Qualifying phases of the three competitions receive a share of 3% of the gross revenue, for 20221/22, the solidarity amount came to €104.6 million. This amount was distributed according to a new principle: instead of cumulative amounts per round played, clubs received €100’000 per round and a fixed amount upon elimination, with higher amounts paid the later a club is eliminated, with an additional €260’000 for a domestic champion club.