Uefa has moved to increase the financial rewards from playing in the Europa League by announcing prize money for the tournament will increase by 65 per cent.
An increase in television money for Uefa will also see prize money for the Champions League go up but the disparity with the Europa League will not be so great from 2015-18.
At the moment, clubs in the Champions League earn an average of four and half times as much as those playing in the Europa League, but in the future Uefa will fix the ratio at 3.3 to one. Solidarity payments to those clubs who fail to qualify for the group stages will also rise significantly.
The prize money for the winner of the Champions League final will rise from €10.5m to €15million, and the winner of the competition could earn a maximum of €54.5m in prize money plus TV cash from their share of the market pool.
SSE Airtricity League champions Dundalk will now receive atleast €550,000 from their participation in next year’s Champions League, nearly double the amount that St Pat’s received last season, and that’s even if they do not win any game .
Cork City, St Pat’s and Shamrock Rovers will also benefit from the increased prize money for the Europa League.
All three will enter the competition’s first qualifying round automatically receiving €200,000 which will of course rise depending on their progression.
The move comes following a new agreement with the European Clubs’ Association (ECA), which is also to have two representatives co-opted onto Uefa’s executive committee — one of whom is expected to be ECA president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantino said: "Uefa is really pleased that the new distribution system not only provides for a substantial rise in monies received by clubs participating in the Champions League and Europa League, but also strengthens Uefa's solidarity principle, namely ensuring an even more substantial increase in solidarity payments to clubs.
“In this way, the new system provides a better deal for everyone, especially those clubs which did not qualify to the group stage of either of the two Uefa club competitions.
“This is a perfect example of the proper implementation of the solidarity principle which forms an essential part of Uefa’s key values.”
