Although Real Madrid won the UEFA Champions League final 1-0 over Liverpool in Paris on Saturday, the Reds’ dominance on the commercial field proves that football is more than just winning matches.
Liverpool won the Premier League in 2019, ending a 30-year wait and becoming the first English team to win the FIFA Club World Cup, Champions League, and UEFA Super Cup. Liverpool came second in the 2021 season of the English top-flight and were assigned to Group B for the Champions League competition this year. Manchester City won the Premier League for the first time, earning $206.6 million, and advanced to the Champions League semifinals, earning another $118.4 million in prize money.
Liverpool also won the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup recently, increasing their annual earnings to $337.6 million (£267.4 million). The amount was more than enough to beat Manchester City by a mere $12 million.
Omar Chaudhuri, Chief Intelligence Officer of Twenty-First Group, said, “Liverpool probably earned about £160 million ($202.1 million) in the Premier League this year.
“The marginal benefit of finishing first, second or third isn’t that different in Premier League, whereas it’s a lot more staggered as you progress in the Champions League.“
Kieran Maguire, the host of Price of Football, said, “There is a huge fight to be in the top four of the Premier League.
“And the reason for that is, for every $1 you earn in the Europa League, you earn $5 in the Champions League. The difference between fifth and fourth place is the biggest gap in the Premier League itself.”
Liverpool has had an economic advantage over other clubs by qualifying for the Champions League more than almost any other team in the Premier League. But that isn’t the only thing that distinguishes the Reds; rather than spending lavishly like Los Blancos or the Parisians, they wisely invest their funds and get those returns as well.