MANCHESTER CITY hope to be the first English club to pocket £100 million in UEFA prize money this season by defending the Champions League crown.
And with television cash added in, that could rise to a record-smashing whopping £128 million if they lift the trophy at Wembley on June 1.
Pep Guardiola’s men picked up around £85 million from the organisers by lifting the trophy for the first time in Istanbul in June.
But if they go all the way and retain their title on home soil it will be worth substantially more.
While UEFA’s cash pot for the competition remains at a total £1.73bn, favourites City are in line to take their biggest share yet.
And if Guardiola’s men, who have a 100 per cent winning record from their first seven games this season, can be Euro kings for the second year running, the Etihad side will crush the current record European earnings tally.
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City banked around £12 million from winning all their six group matches against RB Leipzig, Young Boys and Red Star Belgrade.
The holders will be expected to complete the job against FC Copenhagen next month and book a place in the quarter finals – which is worth a further £9 million.
There is another £33 million on offer if they can negotiate their way through to the showpiece final for a third time in four years.
Lifting the trophy is only worth a further £3.8 million – the same amount they earned from winning the Super Cup in August.
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City also earn slightly more than £28m from Uefa’s controversial “10 year coefficient table”, as they take the fourth-largest share behind Madrid, Bayern Munich and Barcelona.
Television money will boost their earnings till further – meaning they would eclipse the record £116 million Real Madrid picked up when they beat Liverpool to lift the crown in 2022.
The maximum City can win is a stunning £128 million.
But with Manchester United and Newcastle both having been knocked out in the group stage, City are now guaranteed a minimum £127m for going all the way – and that would require them beating Arsenal in the final.
Midfielder Phil Foden believes the holders have the squad to become the first team since Real Madrid to defend their crown.
He said: “I look around the changing room and still see the determination and hunger – so I don’t see why not. We’ve got the squad to do it.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
