Serie A, here’s how much second place is worth

Now that Inter have got their hands on the Scudetto, the spotlight shifts to the intermediate goals. It’s like when, in Formula 1, a driver goes on the run and the cameras linger on a duel from behind. Here, however, we are talking about money: glory aside, how much is second place in the championship worth, currently contested by Juve and Milan? And is it really that relevant? Let’s answer the second question immediately: a little less than in the past. But let’s go in order.

TV rights cake

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From the point of view of a club’s revenues, the final position in the Serie A standings affects the distribution of the audiovisual revenues managed by the League. The cake is distributed every year as follows: 50% in equal parts, 20% based on social roots (12% tickets/season tickets, 8% audience) and 30% based on sporting results (5% historical, 10% last 5 championships , 12% last championship standings, 3% last championship points). Therefore the current ranking is worth 12%, i.e. 128.7 million of the total 1073 to be divided among the 20 teams in 2023-24. The first place will be entitled to 20 million, the second 16.8, the third 14.4, the fourth 12 and so on, up to 400 thousand euros for the last.

champions awards

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Until this year, the place in the Serie A standings also determined half of the market pool that makes up the Champions League spoils. The market pool is the share of UEFA prizes distributed proportionally to the television market of each country: half based on the number of matches played in the cup, half based on the ranking of the last domestic championship (40% for the champion, 30% for the second, 20% for the third, 10% for the fourth). Italy’s market pool was worth around 34 million per season in the current 2021-24 cycle, therefore 6.8 to the first place, 5.1 to the second, 3.4 to the third and 1.7 to the fourth. From next year, however, the reform of the Champions League will begin: more money but also different methods of calculation. In particular, placing in the national championship is no longer relevant for the purposes of UEFA prizes. The market pool has been merged with the historical ranking in a criterion that will take into account, on the market pool side, only the positioning of the country in the ranking of the value of TV rights: the clubs from the same country, therefore, will be assigned the same share of the market pool, regardless of the domestic ranking and the matches played in the Champions League. This means that the final ranking of the 2023-24 Serie A will not have any impact on the 2024-25 Champions League prizes.

super cup

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There remains one final factor to take into consideration: qualification for the Italian Super Cup. With the new four-team format, not only the first in the league but also the second, as well as the Italian Cup finalists, automatically qualify. Be careful, the final four was held this year (in Saudi Arabia), but it is not automatic. We evaluate the calendar and make a decision. At the moment, the League is already studying the placement of the three dates of the expanded Super Cup in next season’s calendar: if there were no contrary decision, the 4-way formula would therefore be confirmed for 2024-25, with a minimum prize of 1.6 million for the semi-finalists (5 for the finalist, 8 for the winner). In summary, second place is worth around 18 and a half million, including TV rights for Serie A and attendance fees for the Super Cup. The difference, compared to finishing third, is 4 million. Last year, there was a little more between second and third place, because there was also the market pool: just under 6 million.