Every season, the big names in Ligue 1 fight for one thing, to hope to finish in the top 4, or even the top 3 of the championship. The one that allows you to get a direct ticket for the very lucrative Champions League. It must be said that for the French teams, the financial contrast between the national games and the continent widens a little more each season. While the French audiovisual landscape is in the midst of a crisis despite the launch of the Ligue 1+ platform, the revenue redistributed to French clubs remains very modest, reduced by disputes and readjustments from broadcasters (- €78.5 million due to the exit of BeIN Sports and – €85 million following the end of the compensation granted by DAZN for early exit from the contract).
Conversely, UEFA is deploying an impressive war chest for this European cycle: a gross overall envelope set at 4.4 billion euros. Of the 3.317 billion euros redistributed to clubs involved in its European Cups, the governing body reserves 2.467 billion euros (or 74.38%) only for the Champions League and the Super Cup. An absolute boon for Paris Saint-Germain, LOSC and RC Lens who will represent France in C1.
The mechanics of the three pillars of UEFA
To award this jackpot to the 36 teams qualified for the league phase, the European body uses a formula cleverly orchestrated around three pillars. The first, historic and well-known in the C1, guarantees an identical participation bonus for everyone in the amount of 18.62 million euros from the start and even before having heard for the first time the famous music of the Champion’s League resounding during the first match.
To this fixed base are added the sporting performance bonuses, which distribute 2.1 million euros per victory and 700,000 euros per draw, supplemented by a bonus in the final ranking and progressive prizes in each direct elimination round (11 M€ for a 1/8 final, 12.5 M€ for a 1/4 final, 15 M€ for a semi-final, 24.5 M€ for the winner and 18 M€ for the finalist) which can bring in up to 110 million euros for the winner.
Finally, the new “value pillar” (see details and explanations on the UEFA website) is a combination of the old “market share” (country market value) and “coefficient” (individual club coefficient) pillars. It brings together the national TV rights and the historical coefficient of the clubs over five and ten years, offering a certain advantage to the French teams thanks to the strong contribution of French broadcasters like Canal +, which spends, remember, more than €450 million each year for the broadcast of the Big Ears Cup.
PSG, Lille, Lens: details of expected gains
Thanks to this scale and its status as double title holder, Paris Saint-Germain largely dominates the financial debates. The capital club is guaranteed to pocket a minimum check of 63.97 million euros even before the kickoff of its first match. According to projections revealed by the Teamqualification for the quarter-finals would ensure Parisians gains of between 80 and 100 million euros, with the possibility of reaching 150 million euros again in the event of victory in the final. For their part, Olivier Letang’s LOSC can legitimately aim for a jackpot ranging from 60 to 70 million euros, or even 105 million euros in the event of a continental exploit. For RC Lens of Jean-Louis Leca and Benjamin Parrot, expected revenues range between 50 and 60 million euros, obviously much more than the entirety of their national TV rights over an entire season or even several.
