Liverpool finance news: March announcement now on the cards after talks in Qatar – sources
The European Club Association does not intend to lobby for major changes to Uefa’s 10-year coefficient system in news that will buoy the likes of Liverpool, sources have told Football Insider.
Around 30 per cent of the Champions League’s central financial pot is distributed in accordance with the 10-year system, which critics claim hands a mafioso-style advantage to the continent’s most well-established sides.
There were fears among those teams that the ECA could push for changes to the model after the European Court of Justice’s recent ruling against the breakaway Super League robbed its founders of a key bargaining chip.
But an ECA source has told Football Insider that there was broad consensus among the organisation’s grandees during December’s summit in Qatar that the system is not in need of wholesale reform.
That stance could become official policy when the ECA, which represents 245 elite European clubs, holds its next General Assembly meeting in Budapest between 27 and 28 March.
Liverpool, who have reached four European finals in the last decade and lifted the Champions League trophy in 2018-19, began 2022-23 in 8th place in Uefa’s 10-year coefficient rankings.
The Merseysiders therefore banked around £22million from Uefa before a ball had been kicked in their European campaign, analysis from Football Insider has found.
The competition’s lowest-ranked team will, by contrast, receive roughly £900,000 in coefficient-based payments.
Champions League teams’ coffers are further boosted by a participation fee, TV pool share and prize money allocation.
Groups such as Football Supporters Europe and the European Leagues have called for wholesale changes to the distribution system ahead of the launch of an expanded Champions League format in 2024-25.
In other news, pundit claims Jude Bellingham is “a Liverpool player if they want him” after source’s reveal.