The unfairness of the revenue distribution system used in the UEFA club competitions

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) distributes commercial revenue from its club competitions according to a complex mechanism. Coefficient-based amounts are paid such that the participating teams are ranked on the basis of performances over the last 10 years. Due to the non-anonymity of this allocation rule, all clubs are interested in qualification together with lower-ranked teams, which makes the procedure incentive incompatible. In particular, the English club Arsenal is found to lose 132 thousand Euros prize money in the 2022/23 UEFA Europa League because of exerting full effort in its domestic championship. Two strategy-proof alternatives are proposed to divide fairly this pillar of the revenue distribution system.