PARIS: European football’s governing body UEFA said on Tuesday it would increase the funds allocated to clubs not taking part in men’s continental competitions, also capping the amount going to the top five federations.

“Last year, the UEFA Executive Committee approved a significant increase in the distribution of solidarity for clubs not participating in UEFA’s men’s club competitions for the 2024-27 cycle, which will see the share allocated to non-participating clubs rise from 4% to 7% of the projected revenue threshold of 4.4bn. This translates to 308mn an increase of nearly 80% comp­ared to the previous cycle,” UEFA said in a statement after its Exe­cutive Committee in Prague.

“A cap to the distribution to the top five federations (England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France) has been confirmed, as they will receive 10m each,” UEFA added.

“The funds available to the remaining 50 associations will therefore increase from the current 135m to a total of 258m. 70% of these amounts will be distributed based on their position in the UEFA access list, while 30% will be proportional to the amounts received by the top earning club of each association, an innovative concept expressly targeting competitive balance in domestic leagues.”

The decision was welcomed by the European Clubs Associations.

ECA has worked for many months with UEFA, in consultation with European Leagues, to drive a significant increase in solidarity for non-participating clubs together with a more equitable distribution system for participating clubs for the new 2024-27 cycle, benefiting clubs of all sizes across the football pyramid,” ECA chairman and PSG president Nasser el-Khelaifi said.

A new strategy for women’s football “for the period 2024-30” was also approved by the Executive Com­mittee, UEFA said, adding that details would be published “in the coming weeks”.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2024