Real Madrid to get 50m euros before playing a game

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European soccer body UEFA has released details of the distribution of revenue to the clubs next season, with European champions Real Madrid to get around 50 million euros (about 58 million US dollars) without kicking a ball in the Champions League.

According to reports, the prize fund for European club competitions next season will be increased by 50 percent thanks to booming broadcast and commercial revenues. A total of 2.04 billion euros would be distributed among the teams competing in its flagship tournament in 2018/19.

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Champions League group stage participants next year will receive a starting fee of 15.65 million euros which is the same for all teams.

The will also get bonuses for winning matches, additional payments calculated on previous results (known as the coefficient ranking) and finally a share of the television market pool.

The payments based on the coefficient ranking which is calculated using results over the last 10 seasons in European competition.

UEFA said that 585.05 million euros had been set aside for this category and would be divided into shares of 1.108 million euros each.

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Of the 32 teams in the group stage, the lowest ranked-team will receive one share, with an additional share added to every rank so that the highest-ranked team receives 32 shares or 35.46 million euros.

Real Madrid, winners for the last three seasons, top the coefficient rankings followed by Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Manchester United, Chelsea, Juventus, Porto, Arsenal and Benfica.

This means Real will receive a minimum 51.11 million euros and Manchester United is expected to earn 31 million euros in “shares.”

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They will also receive a share of the 292 million euros in the market pool, which is distributed in accordance with the value of each national television market.

Teams will each receive a bonus of 2.7 million euros for every time they win a game in the competition and 900,000 euros for a draw.

A further bonus will be paid every time they progress to the next stage of the competition, ranging from 9.5 million euros for the round of 16 and 15 million euros for the final.

In contrast, a club eliminated in the third qualifying round would receive between 480,000 euros and 1.37 million euros depending on how many rounds they had played.

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Critics say that the system creates a snowball effect as the clubs who already have the highest revenue get the most money.

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, who was elected shortly after the new system was approved in 2016, has said that the lack of competitive balance is the biggest issue facing European football, but he concedes it cannot be changed overnight.

(With inputs from Reuters)