The Women's Champions League is one of the sport's biggest competitions and it is becoming more lucrative for clubs to compete in too, as the prize money grows amid more investment in women's football.
That financial reward has grown over the years, particularly after the introduction of the 16-team group stage in the 2021-22 season, with each participant in that round now receiving a sum that is around five times as much as clubs in the round of 16 had in previous campaigns.
So, how much money does UEFA distribute to clubs, how does it do it and how does it compare to the men's edition? GOAL breaks it all down for you for the 2022-23 season.
How much prize money do the Women's Champions League 2022-23 winners get?
Winning the Women's Champions League is worth €350,000 (£301,000/$347,000), with the runners-up receiving €200,000 (£172,000/$198,000).
However, that is based on simply winning the final, with the teams which reach it accumulating more funds by navigating each round.
Position | Prize money |
|---|---|
Winner | €350,000 |
Runner-up | €200,000 |
Semi-finalist | €180,000 |
Quarter-finalist | €160,000 |
Group stage win | €50,000 |
Group stage draw | €17,000 |
Qualifying for group stage | €400,000 |
The distribution of funds in the qualifying round is different to the men's competition, because of the way it is structured.
In the first qualifying round, teams are pooled into groups, with one of those teams to host the games. The hosts receive €30,000 (£25,800/$29,700), with the visiting sides granted €65,000 (£56,000/$64,500). The team that wins the group and progresses to the second qualifying round gets €15,000 (£12,900/$14,800).
In that next stage, the winning team is paid €100,000 (£86,000/$99,000) while the losing side picks up a bigger sum of €140,000 (£120,000/$138,000).
As well as a cash prize for getting the group stages, there is also money to be earned based on the results teams get in that round, with a victory worth €50,000 (£43,000/$49,600) and a draw €17,000 (£14,600/$16,800).
If a team competes from the group stage and wins every match on their way to triumphing in the competition, they would earn €990,000 (£850,000/$980,000) overall.
There is a total of €24 million (£20m/$23m) available for distribution in the UWCL, with €11.5m (£9.9m/$11.4m) going into the group stage onwards, €7m (£6m/$6.9m) to the qualifying stage and €5.6m (£4.8m/$5.5m) to non-participating clubs for development purposes.
How does the Women's Champions League prize money compare with the men's Champions League?
The difference between what is earned by clubs in the UWCL and the men's Champions League, with its bigger audience and longer history, is huge. There is more than €2.7 billion (£2.3bn/$2.7bn) available for distribution in the latter competition. The €24m available for the women's edition is not even 1 per cent of that number.
The winner on the men's side receives €20m (£17.2m/$19.8m), while the runner-up collects €15.5m (£13.3m/$15.3m) for their efforts. The reward for reaching the group stages is even more than what the losing finalist gets - with €15.64m (£13.4m/$15.5m) given to each side that reaches the 32-team round.
There is also TV revenue that clubs get a share of, with the pot estimated to be worth just short of €300m (£258m/$297m), and more prize money for the winning side to play for in the UEFA Super Cup, too.
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