Arsenal earn LESS from Champions League than Liverpool and Man City despite perfect record

Arsenal have romped into the last 16 of the Champions League with a perfect record, but Premier League rivals Liverpool and Manchester City have both earned more in the competition so far this season

Manchester City and Liverpool have both earned MORE from the Champions League than Arsenal so far this season, according to analysis released on Monday.

Mikel Arteta ’s men stormed into the last 16 with eight wins out of eight in the league phase, which concluded last week, and have been touted as favourites to win the whole thing. Premier League champions Liverpool finished third while City were eighth, the lowest position afforded an automatic place in the last 16.

However, both City and the Reds have so far earned £84m from this year's competition - a touch more than Arsenal's £83.1m, according to data published on Monday by the highly respected Swiss Ramble football finance blog. While Arsenal have outshone those two clubs on the pitch, City and Liverpool have earned more to date this season due to their superior European records over the last 10 years when compared to the Londoners.

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The 36 clubs in the league phase each receive a £16.1m starting fee before prize money based on performance is added, which accounts for 37.5 per cent of the total money distributed to the clubs by UEFA. Cash is earned for each win, draw, position in the table and qualification for the last 16. That achievement alone is worth £9.5m to each club.

As such, Arsenal unsurprisingly topped the performance part of the earnings list, receiving £35.1m, with Liverpool earning £31m and City earning £28.5m. However, Arsenal did less well in the ‘value pillar’ section of Champions League earnings.

This is worked out by ranking clubs based on the value of a country’s media market, combined with individual clubs’ performances in Europe over the last five and 10 years in UEFA’s coefficient rankings. The ‘value pillar’ equates to 35 per cent of the total amount shared with the 36 clubs.

Swiss Ramble calculates City were the top-earning English club in this section, receiving £39m compared to Liverpool’s £37.2m and Arsenal’s £32m.

Chelsea ’s total overall earnings from the Champions League this season so far are calculated to be £79.6m with Tottenham ’s thought to be £72.7m. Newcastle ’s earnings are much lower at the moment at £46.7m, owing to their lower coefficient ranking compared to the other five English clubs, and the fact they face a play-off to reach the last 16.

The top-earning club so far, according to Swiss Ramble, across all metrics is Bayern Munich who have so far earned £86.6m.

There is plenty of prize money still available to be won, with £49.8m on offer for the club which wins the Champions League, if they also go on to win the Super Cup in August. The finalists, semi-finalists and quarter-finalists of the Champions League will receive progressively smaller amounts than the winners.