A new challenge for UEFA? The UEC’s proposal to redistribute revenues to training clubs | OneFootball

Jacopo Carmassi is Principal Economist at the European Central Bank. All views expressed are exclusively those of the author and do not implicate in any way the European Central Bank nor any other entity to which the author is affiliated.

The Union of European Clubs (UEC), the European association of football Clubs aiming to represent small and medium Clubs, has published today a proposal on a new mechanism to reward the Clubs which train and develop young players. The beneficiary Clubs would be those which trained, in the period between 12 and 23 of age, the players that in a given season have participated to UEFA Club competitions. This new mechanism, labelled Player Development Reward (PDR), would apply to Clubs of national football associations which are members of UEFA.

Under the proposal, UEFA would make available for this instrument an amount equal to at least 5% of its annual Club competitions revenues. Using as a benchmark the 2024-2025 season (with expected revenues of € 4.4 billion), the overall amount for PDR would have been of at least about € 200 million. For each player triggering the PDR, the amount of the reward would be given by the combination of two factors: i) the share of minutes played by the player in UEFA Club competitions, relative to the total minutes played by his team, and ii) the share of UEFA revenues received by the Club of the player relative to the total revenues distributed by UEFA to participant Clubs (around € 3.3 billion expected for the 2024-2025 season). Therefore, the value of the award is determined not only by the minutes played, but also by the share of UEFA revenues received by the player´s Club, which partially depend on the team performance in the competition. The PDR amount would also be calculated taking into account the number of years of training by a given Club, likely with a higher weight for the 16 to 23 age period (some FIFA rules would probably serve a model for the calibration of these parameters). For players on loan, the beneficiary Clubs would be those which received them on loan and actually trained the players.

The PDR would be allocated among all training Clubs, regardless of their category (either professional or non-professional), but with two exceptions. Clubs belonging to national associations which are not members of UEFA, as well as Clubs which have participated in a given season to the group stage of UEFA Champions League, would not be eligible for the PDR. For Clubs participating to the group stage of the Champions League, this exclusion is based on the objectives of the instrument, which include (also) the mitigation of the economic (and sporting) imbalance between the big Clubs and the other Clubs: resources are directed to Clubs which would benefit the most from the recognition of their training work. However, Clubs participating to the group stage of UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League would be eligible to receive the PDR.

Eligible training Clubs would also receive the money not distributed in a first round of allocation of the PDR due to the eligibility exceptions. These resources are those that would have gone to the non-eligible training Clubs. These amounts initially not distributed would be allocated across all eligible training Clubs, with the same proportion as in the first round of PDR distribution: this second round of PDR allocation would significantly increase the Player Development Reward for these Clubs.

The numbers

Let´s have a look at some figures for the Player Development Reward, according to UEC simulations based on Transfermarkt data and assuming a distribution of 5% of UEFA Club competition revenues. Overall, PDR money would go to nearly 1,500 Clubs across Europe; over 400 Clubs would receive more than € 100,000 each. If PDR was already in place, for the 2024-2025 Pavia (a Club just promoted from Eccellenza, the Italian fifth Italian tier, to Serie D, the fourth tier) would have received € 321,000 thanks to Francesco Acerbi (Inter); St Mirren, a Club of the Scottish highest league, € 262,000 for John McGinn (Aston Villa); Pavarolo (Terza Categoria, the Italian ninth tier) € 281,000 thanks to Federico Gatti (Juventus); Bordeaux (now in third division in France) €768,000 for Jules Koundé. Going back to the 2023-2024 season, the Club with the highest PDR would have been Ajax, with over € 5 million. In Italy, the Clubs with the highest PDR would have been Udinese and Roma, with around € 2 million each, followed by Verona and Atalanta with around € 1 million each, and Fiorentina with almost € 900,000. Sampdoria would have received approximately € 640,000, Avellino around € 130,000 and Pisa around € 100,000. Bellaria (Prima Categoria, Italian seventh tier) would have obtained a PDR of € 327,000, thanks to Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio).

The overall magnitude of the PDR prizes – at least € 220 million – is significant. This figure is lower than the UEFA solidarity payments for non-participating Clubs (7% of revenues, corresponding to € 308 million for the 2024-2025 season). However, the 5% of revenues used for PDR calibration is a floor: the gap could therefore be reduced or closed if a higher percentage was agreed. To add a further element of comparison, the total prizes assigned under the Club Benefits Programme for players released to national teams (included in the Memorandum of Understanding between UEFA and European Club Association, ECA) were € 233 million for the latest cycle (2020-2024), distributed across 901 Clubs: however, this amount covers a four-year period, not just one season. For many Clubs, PDR money for one season would be higher than the money received via the Club Benefits Programme. Clearly, it must be recalled, and stressed, that the nature and goals of the various instruments are different. And, one aspect to understand is the resources distribution across Clubs and countries: this will then help to assess if and which differences there might be from a distributional angle between the PDR and other existing mechanisms, like those mentioned.