Europa League teams not making it through the group make an average of £800,000 each in prize money, just for being there (£531,000), for each group win (£106,000) and for each draw (£53,000). Those teams reaching the last 32 get an extra £159,000, the last 16 get £270,000 more again, the last eight £319,000, the last four £558,000, the runners-up £1.77m and the winners £2.65m.

UEFA expects the Champions League Trophy winners in Madrid in May 2010 could earn up to a total of €31.2 million (£27.68 million) in prize money alone, before significant additional revenues are factored in for commercial and marketing which could easily be a multiple of 3.

The prize pot is expected to rise to €1.1 billion by the end of season 2012.

In every way it is the poor mans relation from cash to participants. Those of us at the Tel Aviv game were left wondering how they had qualified at our expense, which doesn’t say much for us. They were a poor team as their result in the next round showed.

What the clubs qualifying for the knock-out stage have earned so far in 2009-2010
Bordeaux (France) €11,500,000 (£10,205,000)
Chelsea (England) €11,100,000 (£9,850,000)
Fiorentina (Italy) €11,100,000 (£9,850,000)
Arsenal (England) €10,700,000 (£9,495,000)
Manchester United (England) €10,700,000 (£9,495,000)
Real Madrid (Spain) €10,700,000 (£9,495,000)
Olympique Lyonnais €10,700,000 (£9,495,000)
Seville (Spain) €10,700,000 (£9,495,000)
Barcelona (Spain) €10,300,000 (£9,140,000)
Bayern Munich (Germany) €10,300,000 (£9,140,000)
FC Porto (Portugal) €10,300,000 (£9,140,000)
CSKA Moscow (Russia) €9,900,000 (£8,785,000)
AC Milan (Italy) €9,900,000 (£8,785,000)
Inter Milan (Italy) €9,900,000 (£8,785,000)
VfB Stuttgart (Germany) €9,900,000 (£8,785,000)
Olympiakos (Greece) €9,900,000 (£8,785,000)

Top Earning Countries in Prize Money 2009-2010
1. England €41,600,000 (£36,920,000)
2. Italy €40,400,000 (£35,855,000)
3. Spain €40,000,000 (£35,500,000)
4. France €31,300,000 (£27,779,000)
5. Germany €29,300,000 (£26,004,000)
6. Russia €19,000,000 (£16,863,000)
7. Portugal €10,300,000 (£9,141,000)
8. Greece €9,900,000 (£8,786,000)
9. Romania €9,500,000 (£8,431,000)
=10. Belgium €8,700,000 (£7,721,000)
=10. Netherlands €8,700,000 (£7,721,000)
=10. Ukraine €8,700,000 (£7,721,000)
=13. Cyprus €8,300,000 (£7,366,000)
=13. Switzerland €8,300,000 (£7,366,000)
=13. Turkey €8,300,000 (£7,366,000)
16. Scotland €7,900,000 (£7,011,000)
=17. Hungary €7,100,000 (£6,301,000)
=17. Israel €7,100,000 (£6,301,000)

Top Earning Countries 2008-2009*
1. England €119,676,000 (£106,213,000)
2. Italy €93,607,000 (£83,076,000)
3. Spain €89,447,000 (£79,384,000)
4. Germany €57,468,000 (£51,003,000)
5. France €32,014,000 (£28,412,000)
6. Portugal €26,523,000 (£23,539,000)
7. Netherlands €25,906,000 (£22,992,000)
8. Greece €18,870,000 (£16,747,000)
9. Ukraine €15,569,000 (£13,818,000)
10. Romania €14,905,000 (£13,228,000)
11. Turkey €14,674,000 (£13,023,000)
12. Scotland €13,008,000 (£11,545,000)
14. Denmark €12,980,000 (£11,520,000)
15. Switzerland €9,024,000 (£8,009,000)
16. Russia €8,418,000 (£7,471,000)
17. Cyprus €7,972,000 (£7,075,000)
18. Belarus €6,482,000 (£5,753,000)