Arsenal bank major cash bonus as Champions League prize money figure confirmed | Football | Sport
A further £5.61m is on offer in Hungary later this month, but Arsenal have already accumulated a staggering £125.18m in Champions League prize money this season. A place in next season’s European Super Cup is also worth an additional £3.45m. It has been a truly extraordinary European campaign from Mikel Arteta’s side, who topped the group phase standings with a flawless record of eight wins from eight.
Bolstered by the initial TV money distributed amongst participating clubs alongside the rankings pool (£49.6m), Arsenal netted £85.3m in prize money before a single ball was kicked during the knockout stages.
That figure doesn’t even account for their impressive on-field performances, as their eight league phase victories proved worth a remarkable £15.8m in total.
They claimed top spot amongst all 36 group-phase participants, earning an additional £8.6m, and their immediate progression to the last 16 via a top-eight finish netted them a further £11.3m.
Arsenal subsequently knocked out Bayer Leverkusen to advance to the quarter-finals following a 1-1 draw in Germany and a 2-0 victory at the Emirates Stadium, earning an additional £10.8m.
Overcoming Portuguese side Sporting CP in the last eight also yielded a bonus of £10.8m and while the Gunners clearly do not play purely for financial gain, it represents the sort of income that will help strengthen their books when measured against Profit and Sustainability Rules and other financial regulations.
Furthermore, those funds could also help bolster the club’s summer transfer kitty when sporting director Andrea Berta looks to reinforce Arteta’s squad.
Last season, Arsenal pocketed £98.63m in Champions League prize money after progressing to the semi-finals, where they were ultimately knocked out by PSG.
Eventual champions PSG collected around £124.62m last season, meaning Arsenal have now already eclipsed that total.
This year, a record-breaking £2.13billion has been made available in prize money by UEFA for the 2025-26 Champions League campaign.
