Barcelona’s defeat to Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid’s draw with Bayer Leverkusen last night meant Real Madrid are the only team from La Liga to have qualified for the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League.
Barcelona fell in Group C, behind Bayern and Inter Milan, while Atletico were not able to outperform FC Porto and Club Brugge. Sevilla, too, finished third in their group, behind Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund.
According to MARCA, Real Madrid being the only team to qualify for the Round of 16 has seen them earn additional revenue.
This is because of the ‘market pool’ system where the revenue gets distributed to the countries across Europe, after which it is distributed equally, based on the number of matches each team plays.
In Spain, for example, UEFA had provided a fund of €56 million, half of which was distributed at the start of the season. Real Madrid pocketed €11.2 million of that amount, while Barcelona were handed €8.4 million. Atletico and Sevilla received €5.6 million and €2.8 million respectively.
The remainder of the fund was to be distributed equally among teams, based on the number of matches they play. In the group stages, each team received €3.9 million. But with Real Madrid being the only team remaining in the competition, they are set to pocket more.
In fact, the Whites have earned €4.7 million extra just by securing a spot in the knockout rounds, taking their total earnings to €8.6 million already. And if they can once again reach the Champions League final, they could end up earning a total market pool of €11.7 million.
