There are many ways of assessing which club is the “best” in Europe. You could just ask the supporters of each club, but the chances are that their views would be highly subjective.
UEFA Coefficients – by club
Some might legitimately argue that this exercise has already been done by UEFA, who publish their rankings each year, based on the results of clubs competing in the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.
Looking at the 10-year coefficients, the club ranked highest in Europe is Real Madrid, followed by Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and Liverpool.
Approach
We will also try to answer this question in terms of how clubs have performed in UEFA competitions, but in a number of different ways.
First, as this is a financial blog, we will see which club has earned most in UEFA competitions over the last 10 years. After all, there is no clearer recognition of what UEFA really thinks of a club’s performance than how much it awards clubs in TV money. As Einstein said, “Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.”
Second, we will assess a club’s performance simply based on how far it progresses in UEFA competitions. For fans that don’t care about balance sheets, results on the pitch will always be more important.
Finally, we should recognise that some UEFA competitions are worth more than others, so winning the Champions League should bring more kudos than the Europa League, which in turn is worth more than the Conference League.
Ground Rules
We have included all revenue earned from the Group Stage onwards in each UEFA competition. The only exception here is that we have also added revenue for clubs eliminated in the Champions League play-offs, as this can be fairly significant.
All seasons have been sourced from UEFA’s financial reports, with the exception of 2024/25 which has been modeled. In the latter case, participations fees and prize money can be listed for certain, while the value pillar has been estimated based on each country’s TV pool and club coefficients per UEFA’s guidelines.
Europe TV Revenue – top 20 clubs
Real Madrid have earned the most TV money from UEFA competitions in the last 10 years, being the only club to break through the billion Euros barrier with €1,021m. Four other clubs have received more than €800m in this period: Paris Saint-Germain €974m, Manchester City €935m, Bayern Munich €935m and Barcelona €836m.
Half of the top six are from La Liga, as Atletico Madrid are in sixth place with €761m.
The next highest English clubs are further back, namely Liverpool €725m, Chelsea €589m, Manchester United €537m, Arsenal €480m and Tottenham €429m.
Looking at the top 20, England have the most representatives with all of the so-called Big Six featuring, followed by Spain and Italy with four clubs apiece. Germany have three clubs, while Portugal have two clubs and France just one club (albeit in the silver medal position).
