Champions League 2025/26: Italian clubs to get €180m guaranteed | OneFootball

The new edition of the UEFA Champions League kicks off tonight, the second season with the single league format and 36 participating teams.

Champions League 2025/26, the value of the Italian teams: at least 180 million guaranteed

The Italian teams Atalanta, Juventus, Inter and Napoli are preparing to start their journey towards the Budapest final on May 30, 2026, with the novelty of the kick-off brought forward to 18:00.

The new format, introduced from the 2024/25 season, involves more matches (eight per club in the first phase instead of the previous six) and higher overall revenues: UEFA has announced a distribution of 2.47 billion euros, compared to about 2 billion of the last edition.

Participation bonuses and results

Each club participating in the first phase will receive a bonus of 18.62 million euros, divided into an initial advance of 17.87 million and a balance of 750,000 euros.

As for the bonuses for the results, victories are worth 2.1 million, while draws 700,000 euros, slightly lower than the previous cycle (2.8 and 930 thousand euros). In addition, a bonus based on the final ranking is expected: the total sum will be divided into 666 equal shares of 275,000 euros each. Even the worst teams of the first phase will therefore receive a minimum guaranteed compensation.

The “value” pillar: market pool and historical ranking

An additional segment of revenues comes from the “value” pillar, which combines the distribution of TV rights and the UEFA historical/decennial ranking. The total figure of 853 million will be divided into 73% for the European part (about 623 million) and 27% for the non-European part (about 230 million).

Italy is ranked fifth among the European TV markets, behind France, England, Spain and Germany. This determines the shares due to the Italian teams, calculated also considering recent results in European tournaments.

How much the Italian teams will earn

Based on the official UEFA parameters and estimates for the 2025/26 season:

Inter: over 50 million euros

Juventus: about 46 million

Napoli: just over 41 million

Atalanta: just over 41 million

In total, the four Italian teams will earn at least 180 million euros, a figure guaranteed even in case of last places in the ranking and eight defeats in the group, a highly unlikely scenario.

These revenues represent only the minimum base: each victory, draw and round passage will further increase the collection, making the Champions League 2025/26 a competition of great economic impact for the Italian clubs.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.