Top dogs Bayern banked £37 million

Revenue generated by the Champions League topped the £500 million mark for the first time last season with competition winners Bayern Munich receiving around £37 million as their share of the funds from UEFA.

Bayer's pay-out, which excludes gate receipts, is around double what the winners would have received five years ago and this trend looks set to continue as European football's governing body seeks to head off talk of a breakaway competition.

Clubs were awarded prize money for every stage of the competition they reached, from £40,000 for each qualifying round to £1.3 million for taking part in the first group stage, right through to the £3 million each finalist received and the extra £2 million Bayern got for beating Valencia in the decider.

Further funds were then allocated on the basis of the television revenue generated in each country. The result is that, after the Germans, clubs from Spain, Italy and England dominate the revenue table just as they did the competition itself.

Lazio, Valencia and Manchester United came second, third and fourth in the table, respectively, with each of the clubs netting in excess of £20 million from the competition. Real Madrid also topped the £20 million mark, while Leeds and Arsenal came next, earning just short of £20 million and £19 million, respectively.

Towards the foot of the table, Norwegian side Rosenborg again demonstrated what can be achieved by teams from the smaller European nations. The Champions League regulars reaped more than £4 million from their participation in the competition last season.

In all, though, the total amount shared out between the 32 clubs that participated in the group stages of the competition underlined its growing importance to the finances of Europe's elite, with some £360 million being carved up.

The earnings of Irish clubs who competed in Europe last season was already known as none of them made it through the qualifying rounds.

Shelbourne received around £40,000 for each of the two rounds of the Champions League qualifiers they played in as well as £75,000 for winning their domestic league, while Bohemians got £80,000 and Cork City £40,000 for their UEFA Cup involvement.

The FAI's cut from the competition was £150,000, up 50 per cent from the previous season, and this has gone straight into the funding of the league here. In addition, though, UEFA also gave £175,000 to help clubs with youth development schemes who didn't qualify for European competition last season. These funds were divided up between five premier division clubs.