The middle class of European football rebels. The Union of European Clubs (UEC), an association that was born after the pandemic as a contrast to the ECA – today EFC, and which brings together the most powerful clubs on the continent –, asks UEFA changes in the distribution of money that generate the Champions League, mainly, and its two younger sisters: the Europa League and the Conference League.
Specifically, The UEC proposes a strong redistribution of the more than 3,000 million euros that UEFA will distribute among the clubs this seasons. Of this figure, generated with a growing business that already reaches 4.4 billion euros, 308 million will reach the teams not participating in continental tournaments. They are known as solidarity payments. The UEC’s plan is for this figure to reach 2,000 million euros and be distributed among all the First and Second Division clubs in Europe.
For easier understanding, In this cycle, UEFA allocates 74% of its prize pool to the Champions League; 17% goes to the Europa League and the remaining 9% goes to the Conference League clubs. The UEC proposes that this gap be reduced until the distribution reaches 50%-30%-20%according to The Guardian.
The First Division clubs of each league would keep 85%, and those in the Second and lower categories would distribute 15%. The teams that participate in the Champions League and the rest of the European tournaments would maintain their particular allocation, depending on their performance in the competition. In 2025-2026, this piece of the pie is about 1.3 billion euros.
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Where does the money come from?
So, Where does that money come from for medium and small clubs? Mainly, the elimination of the ‘value pillar’, through which 35% of the prize pool is distributed and which is key to the guaranteed collection of the big clubs. It is a system that values the historical performance of the club and the value of the audiovisual market of the country it represents.. That is, this redistribution would mainly affect the large teams of the European Big-5.
The UEC defends that, in a bullish business context for the Champions Leaguethe current distribution further widens the budgetary differences between the clubs that repeatedly qualify for Europe and those that do not, impacting competitiveness at the national level. “Playing in Europe is a dream for thousands of football clubs, but the concentration of money at the top poses a serious risk of UEFA club competitions becoming monotonous and predictable.with the same clubs reaching the final rounds year after year,” a UEC spokesperson told The Guardian.
The example of the Eredivisie
To reinforce its proposal, the club association gives an example: the Eredivisie. In the First Division of the Netherlands, The teams that do not qualify for Europe would go from 1.1 million to 4.4 million from UEFA. And those that do compete in continental competitions would reduce their turnover by less than half (27 million).
“UEC and our member clubs feel there is another wayand whether UEFA and its partners are brave enough to look beyond the short-term interest and political pressure of Europe’s most powerful clubs —many of whom actively participated in the Super League debacle“There is a serious discussion pending that promises to benefit European football as a whole,” the association recalls.
