European clubs will distribute a record £1.6 billion revenue from the Champions League and Europea League more evenly from next season after it was announced the total share had been increased by a third.
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The announcement from the European Clubs Association (ECA) and UEFA comes amid concerns that the gap of wealth between Europe’s richest and the rest is widening, resulting in predictable competitions and domestic leagues.
It was also confirmed that, in a bid to help the smaller clubs in European competition, more money than ever before would be allocated to the Europa League, teams in the qualifying rounds and teams in smaller domestic leagues.
Along with greater funding for smaller teams, more money will also be distributed for teams who release their players for Euro 2020 and money will be calculated, for the first time, as a percentage rather than a fixed amount.
The ECA said, “Clubs will receive eight per cent of income from broadcast, commercial and ticketing/hospitality, with the minimum set at 200 million euros, a 50 million euro increase on the clubs’ share of Euro 2016 revenues.”
ECA chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge was pleased with what the organisation had achieved in such a short space of time and said, “ECA is still a very young organisation and these achievements are an extraordinary success, which will strengthen the solidarity among the clubs and our sense of responsibility for football.”