UEFA. Million-dollar league returns

The battle for European football's most coveted title begins next Tuesday and ends on May 30th with the final at the Puskás Arena in Budapest, Hungary. In the league stage, each team plays eight matches (four home and four away), with the top eight qualifying for the round of 16. In total, 144 matches will be played! The teams ranked between 9th and 24th will contest the two-legged playoff. Teams finishing below 25th place will be eliminated from European competition.

Europe's premier club competition maintains the format debuted last year, which was a sporting and financial success. It featured matches between Europe's biggest clubs, something that previously only occurred at a very late stage in the competition. This year, it will happen again. In the league stage, we'll see matches like Real Madrid-Manchester City, Liverpool-Real Madrid, Real Madrid-Juventus, Chelsea-Barcelona, ​​Barcelona-PSG, Bayern Munich-Chelsea, or PSG-Bayern Munich. Any of these would make a great final.

The previous edition benefited smaller clubs and left the big teams from the Big 5 leagues (England, Spain, Germany, Italy, and France) in trouble. Clubs like Manchester City, Real Madrid, PSG, and Bayern Munich missed out on direct access to the round of 16 and struggled to qualify for the playoffs. It remains to be seen whether the surprises will continue this year or whether the big teams will spoil the small-time party.

Sporting has a tough task ahead. They host the 'friendly' Kairat Almaty next Thursday – the only matchday with matches on a Thursday – then travel to Naples (10/1), host Marseille (10/22), travel to Turin to play Juventus (11/4), host Brugge (11/26), play at Bayern Munich (12/9), host European champions PSG (1/20), and finish this stage at Athletic Bilbao (1/28). In theory, the level of difficulty increases as the competition progresses, so it will be crucial to score points in the first five rounds.

Benfica won't have it easy either. They're the first Portuguese team to play, hosting Qarabag (16/9), then they play at world champions Chelsea (30/9), then they continue in England to face Newcastle (21/10), host Bayer Leverkusen (5/11), play at Ajax (25/11), host Napoli (10/12), face Juventus in Turin (21/1), and host Real Madrid (28/1), who have already won this competition 15 times! The 'bean' has been saved for the final two rounds, which are high-stakes. Benfica's future will depend on their performance in the previous rounds.

The supercomputer from sports analytics firm OPTA released its first forecast of the season, and the Portuguese teams are well-positioned. Based on expected points, Benfica is in 12th place with 12.24 points, and Sporting is in 14th place with 11.76 points, meaning both would advance to the Champions League playoffs. This forecast also suggests that English teams would dominate the first phase, with Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, and Chelsea among the top five. It's worth noting that England is the only country with six teams in the Champions League.

Power of money

The Champions League is, indeed, a competition for rich people. According to Transfermarkt, the 36 teams have a total market value of €18.33 billion! The average market value is €509 million, meaning that Portuguese clubs are well below that figure. Lamine Yamal (Barcelona) is the most valuable player in this edition, worth €200 million. Erling Haaland (Manchester City), Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid), and Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid) follow with a market value of €180 million. Also according to this table, Vitinha (PSG) is the top Portuguese player, in 29th place, worth €80 million.

While waiting for the ball to start rolling, attention turns to the most valuable squads. Real Madrid leads the list of teams with the highest market value, reaching €1.4 billion, followed by Arsenal, valued at €1.33 billion, Manchester City, with a market value of €1.23 billion, Chelsea, with €1.08 billion, and only then comes European champions PSG, with a value of €1.07 billion. Sporting's squad is valued at €434.3 million, while Benfica's is valued at €335.8 million.

Entry into the millionaire league represents a significant financial windfall for any club. Benfica is expected to receive €43.6 million – €18.6 million from the participation bonus and €25 million from the Value Pillar, which is linked to the market pool and the UEFA ranking. Sporting expects to receive €35 million from direct entry into the competition. This is lower than Benfica's, due to Sporting's lower ranking in the five- and ten-year UEFA rankings. In addition to these amounts, Portuguese clubs can earn an additional €2.1 million for each win and €700,000 for a draw. Interestingly, Manchester City, PSG, Real Madrid, Bayer Munich, and Liverpool – clubs that occupy top positions in the UEFA rankings – will be entitled to participation bonuses of around €60–65 million.

To perform well in the Champions League and beyond, Sporting spent €68.8 million on new players. As usual, Benfica spent even more, reaching €105.5 million on player signings and loans. Portuguese teams had never invested so much in a single season, but considering that Liverpool broke the bank by spending €483.7 million in the summer transfer window, it's easy to see that Portuguese teams are from a different league.

Everyone wants to take Europe's most charming and valuable 'big-eared' trophy to the museum. The fifth version of the trophy was designed by a Swiss jeweler, stands 73.5 cm tall, weighs 7.5 kg, took 340 hours to make, and is valued at 10,000 Swiss francs (10,700 euros). It may not be a work of art, but everyone in football wants to get their hands on it.