Crystal Palace are potentially 90 minutes away from the UEFA Europa League.
Overcoming Rayo Vallecano in the UEFA Conference League final would not only secure a third trophy in two seasons for the Eagles, but it will also come with qualification for the UEFA Europa League – the very same competition Crystal Palace were harshly booted out of last summer.
As we approach the showpiece event in Leipzig, Adam Williams – Head of Football Finance and Governance Content at GRV Media – has spoken to We Are Palace about what UEFA Europa League football could do for the Eagles financially.
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Williams – who explained the benefits of offloading John Textor recently too – said: “If Crystal Palace are in the Europa League, they get a flat fee of about £3.75m, which every team receives. On top of that, before you start getting into performance-based prize money, there is UEFA’s value pillar, which will look at Palace’s five and 10-year coefficients and the value of the UK TV deal. Based on my back-of-an-envelope sums, I think Palace would get a further £4m from that section. So, that £3.75m plus £4m is your absolute bare minimum. You can also expect to sell out Selhurst Park four times, so that’s another £4m or thereabouts, which takes us close to £12m. It should be said that these figures are based on UEFA’s 2025/26 figures, so they might be slightly higher given that the governing body’s media and commercial income have presumably increased.
“On top of that, there are performance-related bonuses which are harder to model for the finance department. Here, you really have to do a finger-in-the-air guess, as we don’t know how their season would plan out. But all in all, let’s say they have a decent season and they get £8m in extra prize money. I don’t think that will be too far off what Palace are projecting as a minimum. So you’ve got £20m of revenue there, the majority of which is nearly guaranteed.
“Against that, there are costs of playing in Europe too. You have to pay players out from the bonus pool, for example, assuming that Steve Parish has structured his players’ contracts to reward success and protect them on the downside, which I’d be very confident he has. There are also significant and increasing costs of staging more matches at home.
“So, it’s complex, but Europa League doesn’t move the needle too significantly unless the owners are willing to gamble a little on a good run in the competition. Spurs got about £35m for winning it last season, but Palace would get less because they have a lower UEFA coefficient.
“They could draw down on their credit facilities to fund some transfer business, if they think the potential for further Europa League prize money gives them scope there. Looking at where the club is, the dispositions of the owners and so on, I’d say they could go and spend £50m – £75m, plus reinvest the money from sales. Ultimately, that’s conjecture, but that’s what I’d say if I had to put a number on it.”
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