How much does it cost a club to win the Champions League? In order to provide you with an answer we analyzed those teams that recently won the most important European competition for clubs, as well as those believed to be “favorites for the final victory”. We tried to calculate how much it cost each team to produce results.
As it is possible to see from the chart below, in the last 10 years of Champions League (from 2006/07 to 2015/16) only four teams always participated in this competition: Arsenal, Barcelona, Chelsea, and Real Madrid. It’s also interesting to note that all those top-teams have won, at least once, the Champions League, except for Arsenal who, beside the semi-final against Manchester United in 2009, has always been eliminated in the second round or in the quarterfinals.
Bayern Munich participated to the Champions League 9 times, even if the German rocky team passed through difficult moments, especially in the 2007/08 season when the team did not qualify for the competition.
Manchester United has been involved in the Champions League 8 times out of 10. When the “Red Devils” were led by Sir Alex Ferguson the British team had always participated in the competition. Now it is up to Mourinho to bring Manchester United back to the competition after two years of absence.
In reference to the Italian clubs, AC Milan had participated 7 times (1 victory) , followed by Inter Milan (6 participations – 1 victory), and by Juventus (6 participations – 1 final lost).
How much does it cost a club to win the Champions League?
Crossing the participation data with the expenditure incurred by clubs, it is important to note that Manchester City is the club that spent the most to compete in the Champions League (€1.137 billion while Manchester United spent €1.125 bln). It is also the team that spent the most to get to the quarterfinals and then to the semifinal.
We can definitely say that even Chelsea seriously invested in the Champions League (€448 million for a final; €895 mln for a victory to the penalty.) Bayern Munich was the unfortunate team that lost that match but the German super-power is also the club who spent less to get to the semifinal (€106 mln each time) or to the final (€176 mln).Barcelona is the team that spent less to win (1 trophy every €264 mln invested.)
On the other hand, even Liverpool spent a lot (€817 million) although the British team reached only one final match, in which they lost against AC Milan in 2007. In that season the rossoneri spent €452 mln to bring the trophy back to Milan.
Let’s check out the situation of Inter Milan, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, Arsenal, and PSG to further understand how much it costs a club to win the Champions League.
Inter Milan spent €563 million to win the cup in 2010, while Juventus €632 mln to get to the final match against Barcelona in 2015. Borussia Dortmund and Atletico Madrid were very “stingy” to compete in the Champions League. The German team spent €224 million to get to the final in 2013 while the Spanish “guerrilas” lost two finals after spending €296 mln per competition. Arsenal seems to be a very parsimonious queen. The British club spent €44 mln to pass the group stage every season since 2006/07, even if the club spent €438 mln to get to a semifinal 7 years ago.
We close our in-depth analysis by investigating PSG. The sheik spent €157 million for every quarterfinal reached (€626 mln for the four consecutive quarterfinals.)
That being said in the chart below we broke down the costs for your review.
How much does it coast a club to win the Champions League?
