Bayern Munich fans must be looking forward with relish to the Champions League final. They have home advantage, a great side and a relatively beatable opponent in Chelsea FC.
Bayern stand to lose money if they win the Champions League
This is the chance for the Bavarians to relive the glory days of the 1970s when they dominated Europe and won this trophy three years in a row.
Along with the glory would come enormous financial benefits.
Except that they won’t.
The prize money for winning the tournament is €9m, with €5.6 for reaching the losing finalists.
That’s a whole hunk of €3.4m extra on top of the glory.
So what’s the problem?
According to Eurosport, the problem lies in the minutiae of the transfer deals that brought goalkeeper Manuel Neuer from Schalke and Luiz Gustavo from Hoffenheim.
The two smaller clubs managed to inject ‘success clauses’ into the contracts. These clauses guaranteed them additional money if Bayern were successful in the Champions League.
Schalke received €2 million already from Bayern reaching the final, but are due a whopping €6 million should Munich win. That extra €4 million alone will wipe out the €3.4 million Bayern receive for winning as opposed to losing the final.
Hoffenheim are due an extra €2 million should Bayern win, on top of the 1 million from reaching the final.
And they say that the rest of German is slow to support Bayern Munich in European competition.
Maybe not this time.
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