European football’s governing body Uefa has announced that a total of €904.6m ($1.2b) was distributed to teams competing in the Champions League last season, with the triumphant Bayern Munich beaten in the revenue stakes by Juventus thanks to the size of Italy’s broadcast rights contract for the competition.
Bayern, which defeated Bundesliga rival Borussia Dortmund 2-1 at Wembley in May, picked up a combined €55m in payments from Uefa. This sum consisted of €35.9m in participation, match and performance bonuses covering the group and knockout stages, including the final, as well as €19.1m from the television market pool.
However, Italian Serie A champion Juventus earned more than finalists Bayern and Borussia Dortmund from its Champions League season, despite being knocked out by Bayern in the quarter finals.
Juventus earned €65.3m in total, with €44.8m of this figure coming from the television market pool. Monies from the market pool are divided according to the proportional value of the national television market each individual club represents, among other factors, meaning that the amounts given vary from country to country.
Commercial broadcaster Mediaset and pay-television broadcaster Sky Italia currently hold the rights to the Champions League in Italy. In July 2012, the two companies reached a deal to share live coverage of games involving Italian teams in the Champions League and Europa League during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons.
Aside from Juventus, the other top market pool earners from the 2012-13 Champions League were AC Milan (€36.3m), Paris Saint-Germain (€23.7m), Real Madrid (€23.5m) and Montpellier (€22.8m).
Uefa said that it distributed a total of €209m to teams playing in the Europa League last season, but again the winner of the competition was eclipsed by another team thanks to better market pool payments.
English Premier League club Chelsea defeated Benfica in the Amsterdam final and drew €10.7m in revenue with €3.7m of this sum coming from the market pool.
However, it was Turkish Super Lig club Fenerbahce that topped the standings with €11.2m. Fenerbahce exited the competition at the semi-final stage but was aided by €6.6m from the market pool.
Italian Serie A club Lazio generated €9.6m from its run to the quarter-finals, with €6m coming from the market pool.