Man Utd are on track to return to the Champions League next season and that could provide a huge boost to their finances.
06:00, 06 Apr 2026
There was a time when Manchester United could take Champions League football for granted. The prestige of European nights at Old Trafford was a given and the revenues the competition delivers were baked into the balance sheet.
United enjoyed 18 unbroken years at Europe’s top table until Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement changed the course of history. Where once United were regulars in the knockout stages, qualifying for the competition is now a challenge.
There have been just six Champions League campaigns since 2013 and only one knockout tie since the spring of 2020. United are yet to play in the competition’s new format, which offers eight league phase games after eight different opponents.
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That should change next season. United are within touching distance of being back in the Champions League for the first time since a group stage exit in the final months of 2023. They will then have to learn the intricacies of navigating the group stage.
But whatever happens, finishing in the top 24 of a 32-team league should be a formality. That would guarantee United at least 10 games in the competition, five of which will be at home. The Old Trafford bean counters will be delighted.
The absence from the Champions League has certainly hurt the balance sheet. United’s fall to eighth in the most recent Deloitte Football Money League was their lowest-ever position and it could fall further next year, with no European football at all this season and just 20 games at Old Trafford in all competitions.
The most recent financial results paint a contrasting picture. United’s revenues remain solid, and if they are back in the Champions League next term, they will likely post record-breaking numbers.
But in February, they increased their revolving credit facility to £400million, of which £185million is available. They also owe transfer fees of £422.1million to other clubs, of which £238million is due within a year.
They also used a tool called transfer factoring recently, selling some of the transfer fees they were due to receive to lenders for an upfront payment of £39.4million, which helped pay off some of the credit facility. That could help fund some of this summer’s transfer business.
A return to the Champions League will clearly be a financial boost, easing any potential concerns there may be, as football finance expert Kieran Maguire explains.
“You’ll get a minimum of effectively £30million just for rocking up,” said Maguire. “Then it works out as €2million per match if you get a victory, €700,000 if you get a draw in terms of prize money. And on top of that, you’ve got gate receipts.
“You’re guaranteed four home fixtures, potentially could be seven to eight home fixtures. For a club the size of United, they should be looking to get £8million per match in gate receipts. So you’ve got a minimum of £30million from gate receipts, another £30million for participation. So that’s £60 million minimum. They’ll get the Adidas [kit supplier] bonus of £10 million, so that’s £70 million. And as you progress through the tournament, you can start adding the numbers.
“I think there’s around about €150million for winning it last year. Now that was for a club with a fairly good UEFA coefficient, which United don’t have these days because they’ve not been as good as they have been, but even so, I think you’d be looking at €120million and of course if you win the tournament, you qualify for the next FIFA Club World Cup, which made Chelsea £80million. It really does ratchet up.”
Winning the Champions League might be a step too far for United to budget for at the moment, but the financial implications, especially under the new model, could have a big impact on the bottom line.
That will provide a healthy boost to the transfer kitty, as well as a great incentive to players to come to Old Trafford, but it might also allow United to stretch their wage budget at a time when some big earners are already likely to depart the stage.
“I think it not only helps in terms of being competitive, but also in being able to offer wages,” said Maguire. “I put some stuff out recently on Twitter. United always used to pay the highest wages in the Premier League and now they’ve fallen behind City and Liverpool. Which is, for a club of United’s stature, you wouldn’t expect.
“It allows them to go into the market, and players want to play at the highest level. So not only can they afford to pay them, but they’ve got something to offer them from a non-financial perspective as well.”
One area it is unlikely to have much impact on is plans for the new stadium. United are talking to potential investors over helping fund a project that could cost in excess of £2billion and Maguire points to the example of Tottenham.
“I think the stadium issue is fairly well ring-fenced,” he explained. “If they are going to the debt market, Spurs borrowed a lot of money for their stadium, and they’ve never been guaranteed participation in the Champions League, and they still manage to borrow A) a lot of money and B) lots of money very cheaply.
“If Manchester United can show that we have addressed some of the shortcomings on the pitch that we’ve seen over the course of the last decade, it can only help in terms of the confidence of investors.”
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