The astronomical prize money England and Gareth Southgate missed out on at Euro 2024
England have lost the final of the Euros for the second time in a row. A painful experience for Gareth Southgate and his players, and not just because they missed out on the coveted trophy, because there was plenty of money on offer at the Euros.
Not only is it a big earner for UEFA, the governing body and tournament organisers, and host nation Germany – the players also received a huge windfall for their involvement in the competition.
The tournament generates around €2.5 billion (£2.1m, $2.7m) in television rights, advertising and ticket sales. From that, UEFA will distribute money to the national teams and players, based on their performance.
According to the information published by AS, bonuses are paid to players once they passed the group stage, and then increased as they progressed through the finals.
According to the AS report, UEFA pays €1 million (£840k, $1.1m) for a win in the group stage, and €500,000 (£420k, $544k) for a draw. €9.25 million (£7.77m, $10.07m) for getting into the knockout phases; €2.5 million (£2.1m, $2.7m) for qualifying for the quarterfinals; €4 million (£3.36m, $4.35m) for reaching the semifinals; €8 million (£6.7m, $8.7m) for the winning team of the tournament and €4 million (£3.36m, $4.35m) for the runner-up.
So how much does the winning team earn? And how much will the players earn for their role in bringing home the European Championship?
If England had beaten Spain in the final on Sunday, The Three Lions would have received €28.25 million (£23.8m, $30.8m) for their run. For a winning team, this is distributed at 60/40 between the organisation and the players. For a losing side, it is a 70/30 split.
This equates to €435,000 (£365k, $474k) gross per player for a win in the final.
Where it gets especially interesting (or lucrative) is for England manager Gareth Southgate, who stood to receive a potential bonus of £4 million (€4.8m,$5.2m) if England won, as reported by City AM.
This would almost have doubled his salary, which reportedly stands at around £5m (€5.9m,$6.5m) a year.
Luis de la Fuente reportedly earns a quarter or that – just £1m (€1.2m, $1.3m) for his year so far, as covered by City AM. England football clearly tried to motivate Southgate to pull off something incredible ...
Unfortunately for Southgate and the England players, it was Spain who won the title, taking extra money and prolonging the Three Lions' trophy drought.
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