The Europa League has always been more than just a second-tier European tournament. For many clubs, it is a financial lifeline, a platform to showcase talent, and a stage where reputations are made.
The 2025/26 campaign arrives with the new league-phase format in full swing, replacing the old group system and giving 36 teams across the continent an opportunity not only to compete for glory but also to earn significant prize money.
For fans of Premier League and Scottish clubs in the Europa League, this money matters.
The right combination of results, progression through the knockout stages, and ultimately lifting the trophy could mean tens of millions flowing into club accounts. This money can strengthen squads, stabilise finances, or fuel ambitions for even bigger stages such as the Champions League.
All figures below are based on the latest available data (as of 18 September 2025) from UEFA and supporting media sources.
- Revenue Pool & Distribution
- Europa League 2025/26: Stage-by-Stage Earnings
- League Phase Qualification (just reaching the competition proper)
- Knockout Play-off Round (also called the play-in to reach the Round of 16)
- Prize Money Table Summary
- How Much Could a Club Earn in Total?
- Compared to Past Seasons
- What This Means for Clubs: Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Celtic, Rangers
- Caveats & Extra Income Streams
- What the Shift in Format Means Financially
Revenue Pool & Distribution
For the 2025/26 cycle, UEFA has allocated €565 million for distribution among Europa League participants. This sum is split into three broad ways:
- Guaranteed payments — for simply qualifying for the league phase.
- Performance-based payments — tied to wins, draws, and advancement through knockout rounds.
- Market pool/coefficient & TV revenue — amounts vary depending on the broadcasting market and club coefficients.
Because part of the revenue depends on TV markets and coefficients, the pure “prize money” a club receives can differ from these fixed amounts. But the fixed payments and performance bonuses (the ones I’ll focus on) give a very solid baseline that we can reasonably discuss.
UEFA confirms that in 2025/26, 27.5 % of the €565M is allocated to guaranteed payments for clubs in the league phase. The rest is split among performance and media/market distribution. (football-coefficient.eu)
Thus, when we talk about “prize money” by stage, we refer mostly to the fixed and performance-based parts that each club is assured (barring market adjustments) if they reach a given stage.
Europa League 2025/26: Stage-by-Stage Earnings
Now let’s walk through each stage and see how much clubs get purely from UEFA’s fixed and performance allocations.
League Phase Qualification (just reaching the competition proper)
- Each of the 36 teams in the league phase is guaranteed £3.7 million simply for qualifying. (That’s a base participation payment.)
- In the league (i.e. round-robin) stage, for every win, a club earns £389,000.
- For every draw, a club earns £130,000.
- There is a bonus for finishing high enough in the league table:
- If a team qualifies automatically for the knockout rounds (i.e. finishing in a top bracket), they receive £519,000 extra.
- If a team finishes between 9th and 16th (thus not moving on to knockouts but not bottom), they get £260,000 as a bonus.
So even teams that don’t go deep still pick up a solid sum just from participating.
Knockout Play-off Round (also called the play-in to reach the Round of 16)
After the league phase, 24 of the 36 sides progress. Of those, 16 will enter eight play-off ties to determine the remaining slots in the Round of 16.
- All clubs that reach this play-off round receive £260,000 (i.e. a fixed reward for being in this phase)
- For those who win and thus advance to the Round of 16, they also receive a further £1.5 million on top of prior earnings.
Hence, a team that makes it through the play-off gets (260,000 + 1,500,000) from these rounds, in addition to what they already collected in the league phase.
Round of 16 qualification
- Qualifying for the Round of 16 gives a base reward of £1.5 million (on top of prior rewards)
Teams that lose at this stage still retain all their earnings from earlier rounds; this is just a bonus for progressing.
Quarter-finals
- Clubs that reach the quarter-final stage (last eight) earn £2.2 million (as a fixed bonus for making it this far)
Again, this is in addition to whatever they already picked up in earlier rounds.
Semi-finals
- Reaching the semi-final stage triggers a larger boost: £3.9 million for each semi-finalist.
Final & Winning Bonus
- The two teams that get to the final each receive £6.1 million just for being in the showpiece match (i.e. final participation reward)
- The winner receives an extra £5.2 million as the “lifting the trophy” bonus.
So the champion’s amount is their accumulated earlier amounts plus that extra winner’s bonus.
Prize Money Table Summary
| Stage / Milestone | Prize Money (GBP) |
|---|---|
| League phase qualification | £3.7 million |
| Win in league phase | £389,000 per win |
| Win in the league phase | £130,000 per draw |
| Bonus for finishing top (auto progression) | £519,000 |
| Bonus for finishing 9th–16th | £260,000 |
| Draw in the league phase | £260,000 |
| Winning Play-off (to reach Round of 16) | + £1.5 million |
| Round of 16 qualification (bonus) | £1.5 million |
| Quarter-final qualification | £2.2 million |
| Semi-final qualification | £3.9 million |
| Reaching the Final | £6.1 million |
| Winning the Europa League | + £5.2 million |
That gives a straightforward ladder of rewards a club can climb, assuming they keep winning.
How Much Could a Club Earn in Total?
Let’s do a hypothetical run to estimate how much a club might collect if it goes all the way, factoring in all stages (but ignoring market pool/coefficient bonuses).
Suppose a club:
- Qualifies for league phase → gets £3.7 million
- In the league phase, it wins some matches, draws some, and finishes high to get the £519,000 bonus.
- Wins the play-off → +£1.5 million
- Advances through Round of 16, quarters, semis → gets those stage bonuses
- Reaches the final → + £6.1 million
- Wins the final → + £5.2 million
Rough rough summation (just using fixed payments, not match results):
- Base: £3.7m
- Suppose league bonus: £519k
- Play-off win: £1.5m
- Round of 16: £1.5m
- Quarter: £2.2m
- Semi: £3.9m
- Final participation: £6.1m
- Winner’s extra: £5.2m
That total is ~ £24.4 million (plus whatever is earned in league matches via wins/draws).
So a deep run can net a club a white-knuckle sum just from UEFA fixed and performance rewards. If that same club also performs strongly in the league phase (many wins), and earns a favourable share of the market pool, the real figure could be higher.
Compared to Past Seasons
It helps to see how 2025/26 compares with previous editions, especially the 2024/25 season.
2024/25 Europa League
- League phase participation: ~ £3.63 million
- Win in league phase: ~ £378,000
- Draw: ~ £126,000
- Bonus (top 8 / auto qualification): ~ £500,000
- Knock-out play-off: ~ £253,300
- Round of 16: ~ £1.5 million
- Quarter-finals: ~ £2.1 million
- Semi-finals: ~ £3.5 million
- Final participation (runner-up): ~ £5.9 million
- Winner’s bonus: ~ £5.0 million
Comparing side by side, we see:
- The participation base has risen modestly (from £3.63m to £3.7m).
- Match win/draw rewards in the new format differ from before; because the structure changed, the per-match values are not directly comparable.
- On the knockout side, the bonuses in 2025/26 are higher. For example, the semi-final reward jumped from ~£3.5 million to £3.9 million.
- The final participation and winner bonus also increased in the latest edition.
Some commentary suggests that, although on paper some per-match sums look smaller, the additional matches in the league phase spread the same pot across more fixtures. In effect, money is being spread more evenly rather than concentrated in classic group + knockout matches.
What This Means for Clubs: Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Celtic, Rangers
Let’s bring this to life with the clubs you mentioned: how much might they stand to gain if they go deep?
Aston Villa
If Villa makes it to, say, the final or wins, they would:
- Secure the base £3.7 million
- Collect match bonuses (wins/draws)
- Earn progression bonuses per round
- Grab £6.1 million for final + £5.2 million if they win
So in a best-case run, their fixed and performance total might approach ~£24–25 million (before market pool share).
That is a substantial windfall for most clubs, allowing for infrastructure investment, transfers, or debt servicing.
Nottingham Forest
The same logic applies. For a club like Forest, which may not have the same commercial heft as top heavyweights, these sums are even more transformative. A deep run might elevate them in financial stability, squad depth, and European credentials.
Celtic & Rangers (Scottish clubs)
Scottish clubs historically carry smaller domestic TV markets, which means their share of the market pool portion is usually lower. But their share of fixed and performance rewards remains the same as any club reaching a given stage.
Thus:
- If Celtic or Rangers reach the quarter, semi, or final, they will reap exactly the fixed bonuses (e.g. £2.2m for quarter, £3.9m for semi, etc.).
- Their market pool share might be modest compared to clubs in larger TV markets (England, Germany, Spain), so their total haul might lag in comparison even if performance is equal.
Still, for a Scottish club, a run to the semi or final would represent a financial windfall in the context of their usual revenue scale.
Caveats & Extra Income Streams
It’s important to temper these numbers with full context:
- Market pool/coefficient and TV revenues
The fixed and performance payments are only part of the story. A club’s share of the market pool, based on their country’s TV deals and their UEFA coefficient, can materially increase their final haul. A club in a wealthy TV market can gain multiples more from that share. - Revenue vs. net profit
Clubs incur travel, match hosting, player bonuses, and administrative costs during European campaigns. What ends up in profit is lower. - Currency fluctuations
The amounts above are in British pounds (as per sources). Clubs in the eurozone or elsewhere will need to convert, and exchange rate fluctuations can eat or bolster the effective sums. - UEFA’s final adjustments
Occasionally, UEFA publishes final payments after reconciling all market pool and coefficient distributions, and those final numbers may differ slightly from early projections. - Impact of format change
The new 36-team “league phase” format alters the number of matches clubs play, the distribution of points, and consequently, how match bonuses are allocated. Some clubs may benefit if they do well in many games, others less so if they struggle.
What the Shift in Format Means Financially
This 2025/26 season is the second under the new “league phase” format (replacing the classic group stage).
With more matches (i.e. each club plays more opponents in the league phase), UEFA is spreading its fixed and performance pots more broadly. The result:
- More clubs collect meaningful sums
- The difference between an early exit and a medium run is smoothed somewhat
- The incentive to perform well also shifts: match bonus income (win/draw) becomes more crucial
In previous seasons, a club might aim just to get through to the group stage, then fight in the knockout rounds. Now, consistent performance in the league phase is more heavily rewarded.
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