One by one, our clubs are launching their European campaign. With much to gain for Belgian football.
Even before starting his match against Ferencvaros, Anderlecht was guaranteed to pocket at least 6 million for its European adventure, just like Union Saint-Gilloise, who start their campaign tonight. This is less than the 37 million guaranteed to Club Brugge in the Champions League, it is a little more than the 4 million that the 4 million promised to Cercle Brugge and La Gantoise in the Europa League.
These are only minimums: as points and victories are collected, and as adventures extend until spring, our clubs will see their bonuses increase. So there is once again a nice carrot to motivate our representatives. Especially since their performances will benefit all of Belgian football, and not just the European coefficient.
The CEO of the Pro League Lorin Parys explains to Het Laatste Nieuws that European revenues will be redistributed more fairly: “We put pressure on UEFA to increase the solidarity contribution. We succeeded.”
A common interest
50 million of the 308 million euros distributed by UEFA will go into the pockets of the five major European championships. The remaining 258 million will go to the other competitions, including the Pro League. And within these competitions, solidarity will still be a watchword.
“Even clubs that don’t play in the European Cup benefit from it. “There are 108 clubs that play in Europe, but there are 1,500 clubs in the European professional leagues. For Belgium, this concerns 23 of the 28 professional clubs,” continues Lorin Parys.
The amount received by clubs absent from European competitions is increasing: “Last year, it amounted to six million euros (in total). If the new rules already existed, the Belgian clubs that have not tasted European football would have earned 9.4 million.”
