Women’s competitions
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
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Our financial distribution models for the UEFA Women's EURO and Women's Champions League form the foundations for building a more sustainable future for the entire women's game.
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The 2025/26 season marks the start of a new five-year women’s club competition cycle, which includes a revamped financial distribution model that will deliver record revenue distribution, building on far-reaching changes made for the 2021–25 cycle of the UEFA Women's Champions League.
In addition, a new financial distribution model for Women’s EURO 2025 saw participating national associations and players receive record rewards, alongside a huge rise in club benefit payments.
These changes are helping to accelerate progress towards the goals set by Unstoppable, our 2024–30 women’s football strategy aimed at making football the most-played team sport for women and girls in every European country, while increasing the number of professional leagues across the continent.
What is UEFA’s financial distribution model?
Our financial distribution models are a mechanism through which UEFA club and national competition revenues, derived from the sale of centralised sponsorship and media rights, and in some cases ticket sales, are reallocated. Net earnings are divided among competing teams in the form of reward payments, and among non-competing teams in the form of solidarity payments.
National teams
The financial distribution model for UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 significantly increased the figures from the 2022 edition, both in terms of prize money and club benefits payments. These greater rewards reflect UEFA's ongoing commitment to growing women's football across Europe.
Women's EURO 2025 prize money
Women's EURO 2025 prize money totalled €41 million – a huge 156% increase on the figure from the previous edition in 2022, and five times greater than the €8 million pot for teams competing in 2017 – with players receiving a guaranteed percentage of the rewards for the first time.
Rewards for competing teams came in two forms:
Equal distribution: 70% of the total amount available
All 16 participating national associations, regardless of their performance in the final tournament, received a fixed €1.8 million fee for qualifying.
Tournament performance: 30% of the total amount available
This amounted to €12.2 million, with distribution calculated according to group stage results and performances in the knockout rounds. Teams received €50,000 for a draw and €100,000 for a win in the group stages, and staggered bonuses for each knockout stage.
The maximum prize money achievable for the tournament winners, had they also won their three group stage matches, was €5.1m.
To recognise the importance of players and their contribution to national team football, each participating national association was required to allocate between 30% and 40% of the total distributions received to its players.
Club benefits programme
The 2022 edition was the first time a Women’s EURO channelled funds back into the club game via a club benefits programme, mirroring a model that has been in place for the men’s EURO since UEFA EURO 2008.
The programme compensates clubs for releasing their players to compete in the Women's EURO, recognising their contribution to the long-term success and popularity of the sport. For Women’s EURO 2025, €9million was allocated to clubs whose players appeared in the tournament, double the figure from 2022. An original figure of €6 million was boosted by an additional €3 million from the men’s 2020/24 club benefit cycle, following a proposal from the ECA. UEFA encourages clubs to reinvest the redistributed funds for the benefit of the sport.
Clubs
The 2025/26 season marks the start of an exciting new women’s club competition cycle, as the UEFA Women's Champions League adopts an 18-team league phase and a brand-new UEFA Women's Europa Cup is introduced. A new financial distribution model supports this evolution.
Thanks largely to the full centralisation of media and sponsorship rights, revenue is set to increase 85% compared with previous cycles.
A two-part distribution model has been developed, based on projected revenues. Part 1 includes the first two seasons of the cycle (2025/26 and 2026/27), when it is projected that €37.7m per season will be available for distribution, and Part 2 covers the last three seasons (2027/28, 2028/29 and 2029/30), when it is projected that €46.7m per season will be available for distribution.
Solidarity payments
Like our men's club competitions, we ensure that the competition's financial success benefits the wider European game by making solidarity payments to non-competing clubs. This funding must be reinvested in the development of women's football, helping to level the playing field between clubs, leagues and associations and fostering a more competitive balance.
Since 2021/22, associations represented by at least one club in the Women's Champions League have been eligible for these payments to distribute equally among non-participating clubs. The amount paid to each association is based on the performances of their competing club(s).
2025–30 club competition financial distribution model
The model will distribute funds to four groups of beneficiaries, all receiving increased amounts compared with the 2021–25 cycle:
- Clubs participating in the league phase of the UEFA Women's Champions League and onwards. Starting fees make up 50% of the total, shared equally between all 18 clubs, with the remaining 50% made up of performance-based bonuses. The eventual champions could earn up to €1.995m in the first two seasons, and €2.8m from 2027/28 onwards – significant increases of 41% and 99% on the maximums in the previous model.
- Clubs eliminated in the UEFA Women's Champions League qualifying rounds will benefit from an increased pot of €7.7m from 2025–27 and €9.1m from 2027–30.
- Clubs participating in the UEFA Women's Europa Cup. The total distributions amount to €5.6m for 2025–27 and will increase to €6.2m for 2027–30.
- All non-participating clubs in Europe's top divisions (i.e. divisions that have club representation in the UEFA Women's Champions League) will benefit from a share of €6.2m for 2025–2027 and €7.3m for 2027–2030, with distributions determined by the same model as for the 2021–25 cycle.