Man United-Tottenham Europa League Final Has $100M at Stake

Fans of Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are looking to Wednesday’s Europa League final as a chance for each club to salvage their otherwise forgettable seasons. Man United and Tottenham are sitting at 16th and 17th, respectively, in the Premier League standings, with a chance to finish, at best, 14th in the league table if everything breaks their way through the season’s final games next weekend. It’s near-certain to be the worst Premier League finish ever for both teams.

In the 126-year history of Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur playing head-to-head, the two clubs have never played each other in a competition final. But club owners—Jim Ratcliffe and the family of Joe Lewis, respectively—are likely focused on something else: the $100 million payday that winning Europe’s B-league title will bring.

The winner of the Europa League, the continent’s competition for the good-but-not-great teams from each country’s league, is automatically included in next season’s Champions League. It’s a financial windfall for whoever gets in; making the Champions League for the 2025-26 season guarantees participants $21 million payouts from UEFA. Additional money is paid out for every tie and win, as well as a cut of TV revenue through a complicated payout system, should either United or Hotspur advance out of the first stage.

According to soccer financial blog Swiss Ramble, the money can be significant. In the first stage of this Champions League season alone, top finisher Liverpool took home $122 million and Arsenal and Barcelona around $100 million each for second and third place. Arsenal collected another $43 million for making it to the semifinals, just from team performance payouts alone.

Even losing every match in the Champions League still brings a few million in additional revenue sharing, based on the broadcast formula. Young Boys and Slovan Bratislava, which both lost all eight of their Champions League matches, respectively collected around $11 million and $5 million in additional payouts above the $21 million guarantee, according to Swiss Ramble. United and Hotspur, which are far more popular teams, would surely collect heftier sums, even if their performance on the pitch is no better. 

By comparison, winning the Europa League title Wednesday will net United or Hotspur around $29 million total, according to UEFA’s payout schedule. The loser will make around $22 million.

Tottenham Hotspur’s revenue dropped $65 million when it missed European competition last season after being in the Champions League in 2022-23. Manchester United’s broadcast revenue fell $42 million, or 36%, in the first half of this season to $123 million, by virtue of having fallen from the Champions League last season to the Europa League this year, according to Jefferies stock analyst Randal Konik.

It’s not clear how missing European competition altogether would further hurt Man United’s broadcast revenue; the last time the publicly traded club missed European competition was in 2014-15. Broadcast revenue that year fell 20%, a drop that was offset partly by have five more Premier League games televised that season. The loss of home games during European competition will also cost the loser millions of dollars more.

The chance to salvage both a disappointing season on the pitch and a potential financial gap on the balance sheets gives both clubs plenty for which to play.