Aston Villa: UEFA prize money update emerges at Villa Park with Champions League on cards
Dan Plumley has insisted there could be a £40million negative swing on the cards should Aston Villa qualify for the Europa League, instead of the Champions League.
Unai Emery has his side sitting fourth in the Premier League currently, but injuries continue to mount up on the charge for Champions League qualification.
The football finance expert admitted the money on offer is much lower in the Europa League, with the Villans set to earn a minimum of £50million in the bigger UEFA competition.
“It would be a lot lower,” he exclusively told Villa News.
“You can still gain a bit out of it but it is due to the market pool more than anything.
“UEFA distribute prize money linked to competitions, they distribute a market pool which is linked to the standing of the league so English clubs tend to do quite well, and then you have the club coefficient which again Villa would be very low on because they hadn’t been in Europe for a long time.
“I suppose a good benchmark there to look at is West Ham, taking around €25million in total from that competition but half of that comes from the market pool so you’re kind of speculating slightly as to what it could be.
“It’s around €3.6million for participation in the group stage, you’ve got bonuses for wins, an extra couple of matches, the market pool and a very low coefficient.
“I guess if you could get into the group stages of the Europa League, you’re probably looking at £10-15million off the back of that and of course if you can go deep into the competition, that could get towards £20-25million.
“You’re at least another £25-30million short of what it would be for Champions League group stage qualification. All things considered, there is a £30-40million net swing.”
Aston Villa in the Champions League
Emery has everyone dreaming again at Villa Park, and things are looking good to secure that spot in the top four ahead of Manchester United and Spurs.
With injuries creeping up and form very up and down though, it is important that the momentum from the win over Nottingham Forest pushes the club forward.
Bring it on.
In other Aston Villa news, a first-team player has been called ‘Terrible’ by a BBC pundit after what he did recently.
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