Not 15 million in starting money, but 3 million. It is a painful statistic for now, but for PSV there is also hope on the horizon. The Champions League has to be reached again soon so that the gap with Ajax does not get bigger and that seems possible in the short term.
PSV could have added around 35 million euros in one fell swoop on Wednesday. Participation in the group stage of the Champions League alone had already generated 15.6 million euros. Now the club from the City of Light receives ‘only’ 3.6 million euros.
To make matters worse, the team from Amsterdam, who became champions last season, will receive that 15.6 million euros. Ajax can also add an extra million because PSV has not reached the million ball.
A win in the Champions League would have yielded much more than a win in the Europa League. The difference is more than 2.2 million euros per game won. Ajax therefore seems to be ending up with PSV again financially, but there is hope.
Coefficients
Every year it is assessed how well clubs from a country have performed in the European tournaments. The number of places in the three different competitions will then be announced based on the results of the past five years.
Good news for PSV is that the Netherlands has done very well in recent years. Think, for example, of the semi-finals of Ajax in the Champions League in 2019 and of course the successes of PSV and Feyenoord in the Conference League last season.
As a result, the Netherlands is heading for two direct places in the Champions League. If the Netherlands achieve more points than Portugal this season, an extra club may enter the highest European competition in the 2024-2025 season. The number two of next season does not have to play any more preliminary rounds.
PSV can draw hope from that, but the club would prefer to become champion again. Former director Toon Gerbrands once spoke about wave movements and the fact that PSV is once again becoming dominant in the Eredivisie. But for now Ajax again seems like a bridge too far given the financial decisiveness of the team from Amsterdam. Who knows, this may change when PSV is also the second club in the Netherlands to structurally share in the Champions League millions.
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