Barcelona set to lose €30 million following Champions League elimination – report

For the second season in a row, Barcelona have crashed out of the UEFA Champions League at the group stages. The Catalans’ elimination was confirmed when Inter Milan thrashed Viktoria Plzen 4-0 on Wednesday, ahead of the Blaugrana’s clash against Bayern Munich.

Having learned their fate, Barça put in an unspirited display against the Bavarians and ended up eating a 3-0 defeat in front of 80,000+ fans at Spotify Camp Nou.

The back-to-back eliminations from the competition will be a major dent in the pride of a club as big as Barcelona. At the same time, the financial repercussions of crashing out of the competition will also be severe, especially considering the club’s delicate economic situation.

According to Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona stand to lose millions from their early exit from the UEFA Champions League, so much so that even winning the Europa League might not help the club a great deal.

As per the report, Barça have earned around €67.18 million from their participation in the Champions League this term.

The Catalans were handed a sum of €34.11 milion thanks to their historical ranking in Europe, while another €15.64 million ended up in their coffers as entry bonus into the group stages. Apart from that, Barcelona earned €2.7 million for a win and €0.93 million for a draw so far.

On top of that, the Catalans also received around €13.8 million thanks to the Provisional ‘Market pool’, taking the total earnings to €67.18 million.

Another €2.7 million could be added if they beat Viktoria Plzen next week and they could also receive €0.5 million depending on Real Madrid’s progress, thanks to the market pool rule.

However, the Blaugrana had budgeted for at least a quarter-final run in the competition this season.

Crashing out at the first round itself means that they will miss out on the €9.6 million prize money for qualifying for the Round of 16 and another €10.6 million that they could have earned if they met their quarter-final target, meaning a €20.2 million loss.

At the same time, the earnings from ticket sales for those matches against potentially big-name opponents, as well as income from any possible wins, are also lost. The report sums up this loss to around €30 million in total.

Going into the Europa League, the prize money allocations will be much lesser than the premier European competition. Barça will receive just €500,000 for their entry into the playoff round while progressing to the Round of 16 will see them pocket just €1.2 million.

A quarter-final run, where they crashed out last season, would fetch them an additional €1.8 million, totalling up to €3.5 million – less than half of what they would earn by progressing to the UCL Round of 16.

Should they win the Europa League, Barcelona could earn a total of €14.9 million in prize money, while the additional four home matches will help generate income from ticket sales, which would, to an extent, make up for the losses.

But, nevertheless, the situation is far from ideal for Barcelona, especially given how they stretched themselves in the summer market.