The Champions League returns this week, with the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund and Aston Villa all playing in their opening tournament fixtures on Tuesday evening.
Across each team’s next eight matches in the tournament, they will fight for a position in the Top 8, and Top 24, of the league phase table; 12 teams of the 36 are guaranteed to exit the competition.
Positions one to eight are guaranteed progression to the Champions League Round of 16, while positions nine to 24 enter the play-off round, but what additional incentives are there?
Why should Champions League sides play for higher league phase finishes, not just knock-out qualification?
Teams finishing in the Top 8 will enjoy two fewer games of football than sides in positions nine to 24 — guaranteed Round of 16 qualification bypasses the play-off round, rewarding the league phase’s strongest-performing clubs with an additional period of rest.
All 36 clubs will earn a guaranteed participation fee of around €18.5 million: this is the lowest sum of money that any Champions League club present in the league phase can earn.
That total is subject to rise dramatically, depending on the results achieved by those competing. Every win in the league phase earns clubs an estimated €2 million, while a draw gives back €750,000.
Therefore, a league phase team that takes eight wins from eight in the Champions League will receive an additional €16 million, bringing their total, before bonuses, up to €34.5 million.
As the first of two bonuses, clubs positioned between first and eighth will receive a further €2 million for their league phase finish, while teams placed ninth to 16th will earn €1 million.
There is also a ranking bonus pool of around €183 million, which is split into 666 shares. The highest-placed league phase club receives 36 shares, which totals nearly €10 million.
These shares decrease by one for each descending position: the side in second receives 35 shares, the team in third, 34, etc.
Should a side manage to take eight victories from eight in the league phase, and finish first in the table, they would stand to earn an estimated €46.5 million.
Additionally, those figures were collected using financial data from the 2025-26 Champions League tournament — rewards stand to rise, as they have done every season, this time out.
Each club’s position in the table also determines the ‘quality’ of their knock-out opposition, and gives the highest-ranked teams home advantage in later rounds.
In places nine to 24, each side faces the table’s inversely-positioned club. Ninth will face 24th in the play-off round, 10th will face 23rd, 11th will face 22nd, etc.
The Champions League’s finest, those placed first to fourth, are rewarded with slightly easier knock-out routes, by carrying home advantages.
Teams in first and second will play their home leg first in every knock-out round until the final, while teams in third and fourth will receive home advantage for their Round of 16 and quarter-final ties.
Clubs competing in this season’s Champions League, which gets underway tonight, stand to benefit from all of the above benefits, should they rank highest among their international peers.
