Milan's Champions League adventure now worth €125m - the breakdown [Bonus article]
AC Milan have made it through to the semi-finals of the Champions League after beating Napoli 2-1 on aggregate. Most likely, they will be up against city rivals Inter in the next round, which could make for two great games at San Siro. In any case, the Rossoneri have collected a lot revenue-wise from this success.
A few weeks back, after the Tottenham clashes, we wrote about the revenue Milan have collected and broke down the UEFA system as a whole. Down below, we have amended part of that article to reflect the success against Napoli and the numbers are very positive: it’s an adventure worth €125m.
The breakdown
To understand the revenue made we must first dive into the prize-money system that UEFA have for the Champions League. The easiest one to start with is the participation bonus, which is given to all the teams that make it to the group stage, worth a total of €15.64m.
There is also a historical bonus that is handed out to all of the teams. Given Milan’s history in the competition, they will receive a total of €14.8m for this season’s edition. Moving on to the more complicated bonuses, we have the so-called market pools, named 1 and 2. The values of these are determined by the television market in each nation.
Market pool 1 is decided by the Serie A standings of 2021/22, which in Milan’s case is great since they won the Scudetto last season. Market pool 2, on the other hand, is based on many games Milan will play in this season’s UCL compared to the other Italian teams (Inter, Napoli and Juventus). Pool number 2, therefore, is yet to be decided fully.
Moving on, Milan will also receive achievement bonuses for their results in the group stage as they won three, drew one and lost two games. A win is worth €2.8m and a draw is worth €0.930m. Compared to last season, it’s like night and day as they won just one and drew one then.
Finally, Milan will get additional bonuses for each round they make it through to. Having now reached the semis, they have secured an extra €12.5m. The entire breakdown can be found below and is based on official UEFA documents.
Champions League prize money breakdown
Participation Bonus = €15.6m
Historical ranking = €14.8m
Market pool 1 = €8m
Market pool 2 = €5.85m (at least)
Achievement bonuses = €9.3m
Round of 16 = €9.6m
Quarter-finals = €10.6m
Semi-finals: €12.5m
Draw bonuses = €0.7m
Fine FFP = -€2m
Total = €84.95m
The total revenue that Milan will collect from this season’s Champions League doesn’t just end there, though. In fact, we also must factor in the revenue from the ticket sales as these figures are significant. For the game against Tottenham, for example, the Rossoneri collected €9.1m and a slightly lower figure for the home leg in the quarters.
The ticket revenue from each of the UCL home games this season can be found below and are based on official data provided by Milan to the media.
Ticket revenue breakdown
Milan vs. Dinamo Zagreb = €3m
Milan vs. Chelsea = €6.8m
Milan vs. Salzburg = €4.6m
Milan vs. Tottenham = €9.1m
Milan vs. Napoli = €8.5m
Milan vs. Inter/Benfica = €9m (likely)
Total = €41m (estimate)
In short, we are talking about a lot of money for Milan. That’s also why qualification for next season is so important for the club’s finances, even if the success this season has been a joy to experience.