A total of 16 teams in England have received €879,500 (£780,000) from Uefa as part of the first club benefits programme in women’s football, which financially compensates clubs that had players who competed at last summer’s European Championship.
The biggest beneficiaries are Arsenal (€182,000), Manchester City (€180,500) and Chelsea (€163,500), with 11 of 12 Women’s Super League clubs compensated. Only Leicester among the top-flight teams did not have anyone competing at Euro 2022.
Three Championship clubs have received a total of €30,000, while the tier-three sides Brighouse Town and Wolves get €10,000 each for the participation of the Northern Ireland goalkeepers Becky Flaherty and Shannon Turner. Each club with a player competing in the tournament, from 10 days before their first match until elimination, was guaranteed a minimum payment of €10,000.
Following the Euros, 221 clubs from 17 national associations (all 16 participating countries plus Scotland) are sharing a total pot of €4,316,500, which works out at 2.16% of the amount that goes to men’s clubs whose players compete at the men’s Euros, albeit that tournament contains eight more sides.
The scheme reimburses clubs for the time players are released for the tournament, including 10 preparation days and one travel day, in recognition of the role clubs play in the development of players and the success of international football.
The amount received by teams in England is the largest, with teams in Germany, who finished as runners-up at Euro 2022, collecting a total of €744,500 for competing players, while French and Spanish clubs received €439,000 and €437,500 respectively.
Uefa has provided payments to men’s clubs that release players for the men’s European Championship since the 2008 edition. For the men’s Euros in 2021, clubs were entitled to a share of €200m, which was agreed between the governing body and the European Club Association in 2019.
A proportion of that money was paid in advance of the tournament to assist clubs through the pandemic, with €70m given to clubs releasing players for qualifying and the remaining €130m going to clubs releasing players for the tournament itself.
