Liverpool has a battle on its hands to qualify for next season’s Champions League, and the financial impact of missing out on a spot in the prestigious competition could be huge
The Champions League trophy(Image: Jose Breton/NurPhoto)
Liverpool could miss out on as much as £200 million ($273 million) if the club fails to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
That’s according to a new report, which has delved into the financial implications of Liverpool not making it back into Europe’s premier club competition.
Soccer finance expert Kieran Maguire told the Daily Mail that Liverpool has already earned £90 million ($123 million) from the Champions League league phase this term, and that the club could earn another £45 million ($61 million) from winning the competition. That would then qualify Liverpool for the Club World Cup in 2029, which would also be lucrative.
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There is also the loss of revenue from games at Anfield to factor in, although there is still a strong chance that the Reds will qualify for some form of European competition, so the hit from that would not be quite as seismic.
Assessing the possible financial implications that Liverpool might face were it to fail to make it back into the Champions League, Maguire said: “You do the maths and you’re probably talking around £190-£200m in total when you factor in bonuses from the likes of (commercial partners) adidas and Standard Chartered. So it is the £200m jackpot if you win the competition.”
Meanwhile, Liverpool can take a positive step in its pursuit of Champions League qualification when it faces Sunderland in the Premier League on Wednesday night.
After losing to Manchester City on Sunday, Arne Slot’s men have the chance to make up some ground on Manchester United and Chelsea after both teams dropped points on Tuesday.
A top-five finish is likely to be enough, and the Reds can narrow the gap to fifth-placed Chelsea to just two points with a win over Sunderland.
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Slot admitted that Liverpool’s form must improve dramatically if the team is to have any chance of securing a place in the Champions League via the team’s final league position.
“[Our form needs to be] close to perfection because of the points we’re behind,” Slot said. “We also know that it’s different when you are four points behind a team that’s 18th or 19th in the league, because they usually don’t pick up as many points as the number three, four or five picks up.
“So, to close the gap of four or five points towards the number three, four or five that means you have to win a lot. And that’s not what we’ve done this season a lot, so that’s why that has to be better and we have to come close to perfection.
“Margins are indeed very small because seven minutes before the end [on Sunday] we thought we were five points behind [Manchester] City and five minutes later we were 11 points behind.”