Premier League clubs are set to earn significant amounts of money from UEFA this season before they even play any European matches.
Seven English clubs will compete in UEFA's three club competitions, which have undergone significant changes to their formats.
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UEFA's competition format allows Premier League clubs to win prize money without kicking a ball. Photo: AFP
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Pep Guardiola's Manchester City are set to earn the most. Credit: Rex
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Arsenal will have a nice pre-match profit. Photo: Getty
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Chelsea will likely only pocket a comparatively small amount, having dropped down the Conference League table following Manchester United's FA Cup triumph. Credit: Rex
The new structure will see a Swiss-style league system rather than the previous format of eight groups of four teams with the top two progressing.
Currently, each club will play eight games against seeded opponents in the opening round, a system designed to ensure that teams overall face opponents of a similar difficulty level.
The top eight teams in the “final” standings will automatically advance to the Round of 16, where they will be joined by the winners of a tie-breaking playoff between 9th and 24th places in the standings.
There will be just eight opening matches, but the European fixtures will be spread across a 10-match midweek window.
But how much will each team earn from the new UEFA package?
The opening match will be against Premier League champions Manchester City.
Manager Pep Guardiola is hoping to win a second European title with the club this season.
Just winning all of their Champions League matches could bring in revenue of around £140-145 million.
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But they are set to receive £53m from the new package before a ball has even been kicked.
The deal would see Liverpool make a profit of at least £51 million, Arsenal around £46 million and Aston Villa around £33 million.
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In comparison, the Europa League has a much smaller starting prize pool.
Tottenham, who qualified for the tournament by finishing fifth in the league, will pocket £12 million.
This amount is the same as that received by Manchester United, who qualified by winning the FA Cup.
Meanwhile, Chelsea, who were eliminated from the Europa League after United's FA Cup victory and relegated to the Europa Conference League, are expected to earn just £5 million.
The Champions League's new automatic league draw will take place at 5pm on Thursday at the Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
The draws for the Europa League and Conference League will take place the following day at 12pm and 1.30pm respectively.
New Champions League format
Each club will play eight games against seeded teams in the opening round, a system designed to ensure that teams face opponents of comparable difficulty.
The top eight teams in the “final” standings will automatically advance to the Round of 16, where they will be joined by the winners of a tie-breaking playoff between 9th and 24th places in the standings.
There will be just eight opening matches, but the European games will be spread across 10 matches on weekdays.
The new Champions League format will see two extra qualifying spots added.
It is awarded to the top country on the “National Coefficient” chart each season.
The Champions League pots are as follows:
Pot 1:
Real MadridBayern MunichParis Saint-GermainInter MilanBorussia DortmundRB LeipzigBarcelonaManchester CityLiverpool
Pot 2:
Bayer LeverkusenAtletico MadridAtalantaJuventusBenficaClub BruggeShakhtar DonetskAC MilanArsenal
Pot 3:
Feyenoord SportingCPPSV EindhovenCelticYoung Boys vs GalatasarayPlayoff winnerDinamo Zagreb vs QarabagPlayoff winnerLille vs Slavia PraguePlayoff winner TBD (see below)TBD (see below)
Pot 4
Monaco Aston Villa Bologna Girona VfB Stuttgart Sturm Graz Brest Maluma vs Sparta Prague Playoff winner to be determined (see below)
Who will fill TBD's spot?
The only spots where we can't make an accurate prediction are the three playoff games. These games are:
Midtjylland v Slovan Bratislava Bodo/Glimt v Red Star Belgrade Dynamo Kyiv v Red Bull Salzburg
The qualifying team with the lowest coefficient will go into Pot 4, the others will go into Pot 3.
