By Andrea Caropreso
Index
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The day of the Europa League final has arrived. Manchester United and Tottenham are ready to battle it out tonight in an all-English Premier League showdown. The paradox this year is that the match will be played between two teams that dramatically underperformed in the league. In fact, both teams finished in 15th and 16th place — a clear sign of a disappointing season that could, however, be redeemed by lifting the trophy of Europe’s second most important competition.
The Value of the Europa League
Winning the Europa League not only brings prestige and a ticket to the next Champions League, but also a financial windfall. Both Tottenham and United have already earned around €15 million just by reaching the final. Added to this are the bonuses per win (€450,000) and the victory bonus for the champion (€6 million). In total, UEFA allocated a prize pool of €565 million for the competition.
That’s still quite a gap compared to the Champions League, which, especially in the past year, has become richer than ever. Nonetheless, for medium to smaller clubs — such as Bodo Glimt, who reached an astonishing semi-final — such revenues can be crucial for their financial survival.
UEFA has also unified the criteria regarding historical ranking and market pool (i.e., TV broadcasting rights). This new system is worth a total of €198 million to be divided among the 36 clubs participating in the Europa League.
What Is the Market Pool?
The market pool is a key component of the revenue distribution to clubs taking part in European competitions (not just the Europa League), and is based mainly on the economic value of TV rights in different European countries. This means that the amount allocated to each country depends on the relative market value — essentially, how much local broadcasters paid to air the competition.
In practice, the market pool is divided into two parts:
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The first half is allocated based on the representation of national federations: the total amount is divided according to how many countries have at least one club in the group stage. Each federation then receives a share proportionate to its domestic market value.
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The second half is distributed among the clubs from each federation based on sporting criteria — mainly, their results in the competition. Generally, the further a team progresses (e.g., group stage wins, knockout rounds, semi-finals, finals), the bigger the share they receive compared to other clubs from the same country.
This system aims to balance, on the one hand, the commercial strength of each national market, and on the other, the sporting merit of the clubs. Thus, the market pool rewards not only clubs from strong economic regions but also those who perform best on the pitch.
By Andrea Caropreso
