Revealed: Man City to earn two times as much cash as Newcastle before a Champions League ball is kicked
Newcastle United are on course to earn a minimum of £27million if they qualify for the Champions League next season, Football Insider analysis shows.
That, however, is almost half what Man City will trouser as a base fee from participating in the same competition before a ball is kicked – and that is down to Uefa’s coefficient system.
Eddie Howe’s side’s stunning 6-1 victory over Tottenham last Sunday (23 April) opened up a six-point gap between themselves and 5th place.
The Magpies still have a game in hand over Spurs and Aston Villa below them too.
That means elite-level European football could well be played at St James’ Park next season for the first time since 2004.
Clubs participating in the Champions League receive a £13.8m starting fee, boosted by a share of the market pool and an additional sum based on their 10-year coefficient ranking.
The market pool pot is half divided between clubs on a nation-by-nasion basis and half depending on how many matches a club plays in the competition.
A conservative estimate would see Newcastle earn around £10m from the market pool, although progress in the competition would inflate that sum.
Where the likes of Man City have a huge advantage over Newcastle is in the 10-year coefficient, the system under which Uefa sets aside £531m to divide between its clubs.
The coefficient model ranks teams based on their historical performance in Europe, and City are – besides Chelsea, who are out of the running for Champions League football – England’s top-ranked team of the last 10 years.
Newcastle, whose only appearance in Europe in the last decade came in the Europa League in 2012-13, will be among the lowest-ranked sides in next year’s competition.
For context, only Israel’s Maccabi Haifa would have ranked below Newcastle had the Tynesiders qualified for the Champions League in 2022-23.
Each of the 32 participating clubs earns approximately £1m extra for each place they climb in the ranking for the European season.
While the lineup for next year’s competition will not be finalised for several months, Newcastle can realistically expect to earn no more than £3m from the coefficient pot.
City meanwhile are expected to earn closer to £25m, which would take their starting earnings beyond £50m.
Newcastle’s £27m starting fee could be supplemented by performance-related bonuses, with each group stage win worth £2.8m and another £48m on offer in prize money on route to the final.
There will be considerable commercial benefits as well – Newcastle will be able to justify far more lucrative sponsorship deals with European football, for example.
But the initial disparity between themselves and the likes of City reinforces the view of many analysts that Uefa’s financial model favours the established elite.
In other news, Newcastle United pull Ivan Toney U-turn after Eddie Howe change of mind.