UEFA has officially announced that they are boosting solidarity payments to men’s clubs that do not qualify for their tournaments. The governing body of the sport in Europe currently runs three club competitions each year. This includes the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League. They also control national team tournaments such as the European Championship and the Nations League as well.

As the governing body, UEFA controls funds set aside for tournament prize money and media rights deals. Nevertheless, the organization also allocates certain money to clubs that fail to qualify for these competitions. These collective funds for the entire continent were just under $200 million during the 2022/23 season.

UEFA officials, however, have now claimed that this figure has increased to nearly $350 million. “Last year, the UEFA Executive Committee approved a significant increase in the distribution of solidarity for clubs not participating in UEFA’s men’s club competitions for the 2024-27 cycle, which will see the share allocated to non-participating clubs rise from 4% to 7% of the projected revenue threshold of $4.9 billion,” stated the governing body.

“This translates to $342 million – an increase of nearly 80% compared to the previous cycle.”

Payments are still a fraction of what Champions League clubs earn

Several Scottish clubs received more solidarity payments from UEFA during the 2024/25 campaign. Dundee, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, Ross County, St. Johnstone, and St. Mirren will now earn over $2.1 million each from UEFA.

While the funds are a nice boost, they are not anywhere near what Celtic will receive this season. The Bhoys previously qualified for the Champions League by winning yet another Scottish Premiership title in May. As a result, Celtic has reportedly already grabbed $20 million just for featuring in the tournament. They can also earn extra cash each time they win a Champions League match.

Solidarity payments to Irish clubs are also nearly doubling as well. The top 20 teams in the nation, from both the Premier and First Divisions, will now split nearly $4 million. This is, of course, excluding reigning Irish champions Shamrock Rovers. As a UEFA Conference League club, Rovers are set to earn at least this figure all by themselves.

UEFA caps solidarity funds sent to the biggest leagues

Along with increasing solidarity payments, UEFA also announced that they are capping funds awarded to the top five leagues. This is good news for clubs outside of the traditional powerhouses. England, Spain, Italy, Germany, and France are the top five soccer divisions in Europe.

“A cap to the distribution to the top five federations has been confirmed, as they will receive $11 million each,” UEFA continued.

“The funds available to the remaining 50 associations will therefore increase from the current $150 million to a total of $287 million. 70% of these amounts will be distributed based on their position in the UEFA access list. 30% will be proportional to the amounts received by the top earning club of each association, an innovative concept expressly targeting competitive balance in domestic leagues.”

Real Madrid previously raked in $92 million by beating Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final last season. This figure, however, rose due to UEFA’s structure of rewarding perpetually successful clubs. Official figures pertaining to broadcast revenues from the tournament also had to factor in.

PHOTOS: IMAGO.