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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Jack Flintham

Manchester United finance chief takes swipe at UEFA over Champions League money

Manchester United's finance chief Cliff Baty has taken a swipe at UEFA over the distribution of Champions League money.

Currently, between 2021 and 2024, £2.95bn will be generated by the European leagues through broadcast revenue. A sizeable £2.3bn of this income will be shared out among the 96 participating clubs, leaving just £143.7m to be shared with 750 non-participating teams.

This split has concerned Baty despite United failing to qualify for next season's Champions League following a dismal season. United finished sixth in the Premier League and following a round of 16 exit to Atletico Madrid, Erik ten Hag's side will have to settle for Europa League football in 2022/23.

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Voicing his opinion that bigger clubs should get a larger slice of the revenue, the Mirror reports that Baty said: "One thing I would say from our perspective is that (the split) gives us a degree of certainty that helps in terms of sustainability, and all the discussions that are happening around financial sustainability and financial fair play in football. If you take that away, it’s going to increase the volatility and it’s going to be more difficult for us to manage.

"And whilst I appreciate the sentiment of wanting to give more money (to smaller clubs and those outside European competition) the pie is getting bigger – (and) the reason the broadcasters are paying that much money is for the product, frankly at the Champions League level. If you’re changing the distribution and wanting more money, I think you’ve got to be careful what you’re doing there.

"We all know where the value is created, let’s not kid ourselves. I think we should put more money down, I totally agree with the sentiment, but the value is created at the top. So if you start changing that, and making it more difficult for the bigger clubs to perform, it’s hard."

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