/ 17 June 2005

Liverpool success nets £20,5m

Premiership clubs, led by the European champions Liverpool, were three of the top four earners in last season's Champions League, though Manchester United were not among them. Uefa revealed this week reveal that Liverpool generated £20,5-million from tele-vision and media revenues, as well as performance bonuses.

Premiership clubs, led by the European champions Liverpool, were three of the top four earners in last season’s Champions League, though Manchester United were not among them.

Figures released by Uefa this week reveal that Liverpool generated £20,5-million from tele-vision and media revenues, as well as performance bonuses, en route to winning the trophy in Istanbul last month. Chelsea and Arsenal, who secured £18,8-million and £15,7-million respectively, came second and fourth in the table of earnings, with the English clubs’ dominance punctured only by the beaten finalists Milan, who claimed £17,5-million.

About £277-million was distributed by Uefa between the 32 clubs who qualified for last season’s competition, with that money made up of bonuses for wins and progress through the rounds, as well as each country’s pool for media and sponsorship revenues. They do not take into account funds generated through ticket sales. Yet United, who were eliminated by Milan in the first knockout phase, slipped behind Lyon, Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen to register as eighth highest earners with £10,9-million.

‘The figures show how important success on the pitch is,” said Henk Potts, a finance analyst for Barclays stockbrokers. ‘Manchester United had a poor season in Europe last year and that is reflected in the figures. Malcolm Glazer will want the club to be rising pretty rapidly up the earnings table, but to do that he has to invest in players. That’s the difficulty facing every club: how much to invest in players to bring in even more money.”

Celtic, as Scotland’s sole representative, earned £7-million despite failing to qualify from their group. —