The league phase of this season’s UEFA Champions League has drawn to a close. It was a night of unparalleled drama in the Champions League: 61 goals scored across 18 matches, qualification scenarios shifting by the minute, and teams’ fates being rewritten with every passing second. 

Teams like SL Benfica and Bodo/Glimt beat the odds and registered huge upsets to get into the knockout round, however, it’s only when you look at the other end of the table, UEFA’s real dilemma becomes clear. 

It was a night that drew more criticism than appraisal as five out of the six Premier League clubs advanced directly into the Round of 16. For a governing body that introduced this new format to put the ghosts of the European Super League to rest, five clubs from one league dominating the league phase should ring alarm bells at their headquarters. 

Highlights From The 2025/26 League Phase

Across the league phase, the six Premier League teams played a total of 48 matches, losing only nine and winning 33. They scored 109 goals while conceding just 45, delivering a performance of crushing dominance. 

A look at some of the standout results lay bare their superiority. In Matchday 7, Newcastle United thrashed Eredivisie leaders PSV Eindhoven 3-0, despite the Dutch side holding a 14-point lead at the top of their domestic league. Tottenham, ranked fourth in the Champions League standings, suffered just one defeat in eight matches, beating La Liga’s third-placed Villarreal and Borussia Dortmund, the second-placed team in the Bundesliga. Yet back in the Premier League, Tottenham sit only 14th, with manager Thomas Frank already facing calls to be sacked. 

Similarly, Inter Milan, Serie A leaders and Italy’s strongest club at the moment, were outclassed at home by a rotated Arsenal side, who also defeated Bayern Munich comprehensively at the Emirates – widely regarded as one of the best teams in Europe currently. 

Meanwhile, Europe’s traditional heavyweights – Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Inter, Juventus and Atletico Madrid – were left to battle it out in the knockout play-offs, with no guarantee of progression for any of them.

The evidence is undeniable: Europe’s elite giants are now struggling to compete with Premier League clubs. And the financial imbalance across football will only widen this gap, with this season’s Champions League laying the problem bare for all to see.

A Growing Trend Over The Last Decade  

It is worth remembering that UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations were introduced not only to regulate club finances, but also to end the dominance once held by Premier League sides. From 2004/05 to 2011/12, seven out of the eight UCL finals had at least one English club in it while the 2007/08 campaign saw the first-ever all-English final in Moscow between Manchester United and Chelsea, with the Red Devils prevailing on penalties. It was against this backdrop that Michel Platini pushed for FFP to be implemented – and it was no coincidence.

For a brief period, it was the Spanish, German and Italian superpowers that ruled Europe before Premier League clubs – backed by huge commercial deals and the resultant influx of talent – once again rose from the ashes. 

Over the last decade, despite Real Madrid dominating the scene with five UCL titles, three different English clubs have lifted the coveted trophy – Liverpool (2018/19), Chelsea (2020/21) and Manchester City (2023/24) – while there have been two different all-English finals in the last seven years. 

Although Arsenal were knocked out in the semifinals last season by eventual champions Paris Saint-Germain, the Europa League was an all-English affair between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United while Chelsea lifted the Conference League with a dominant 4-1 win against Real Betis. Further highlighting the widening gulf between Premier League clubs and the rest of Europe. 

The Gulf in Broadcast Revenue

Over the last decade, the influx of commercial revenue and the subsequent rise in wage structure has shifted the balance in the Premier League’s favour. As part of the domestic and international TV rights deals, Premier League clubs on average receive £96.9 million in Equal Share payments while the merit-based payments can take this figure as high as £174 million (or €201 million). 

Indeed, looking at the total revenue generated per season – after the La Liga giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, German superpower Bayern Munich and Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain rounding off the top four spots – the next six spots are all occupied by Premier League clubs.

Top 20 Revenue Generating Clubs Across Europe in 2025/26

(Source: Deloitte) 

The 2023/24 European treble winners, Manchester City, despite finishing third in the Premier League and getting knocked out in the knockout rounds of the Champions League last season, took home £168.5 million (€194.5 million) in broadcasting revenue alone.

If we take a look at the figures released by La Liga for the 2024/25 season, the Spanish clubs make way less in terms of broadcasting revenue compared to their Premier League peers. In La Liga, 50 per cent of the money generated from the sale of television rights is shared equally among the 20 clubs.

A further 25 per cent is allocated based on sporting results over the last five seasons, while the remaining 25 per cent is determined by each club’s social and commercial reach.

In that regard, Real Madrid have overtaken Barcelona as the highest earners from the audiovisual rights for the 2024/25 season, despite the Catalans winning the La Liga title.

Indeed, Real Madrid have received €157.52 million (£136 m) from the television rights for 2024/25. Barcelona, meanwhile, fell to €156.45 million (£135.5 m), despite having won the league title in 2024/25. 

When compared against the PL – teams that finished outside the top-10 – Crystal Palace who finished 12th in the league made £136.1 million in broadcast revenue while 15th-placed Manchester United also made £136.2 million. 

Things are more dire when we move to other leagues. The Serie A clubs in general earn way less in broadcasting revenue compared to both La Liga and the Premier League clubs. 

The Serie A has a 5-year domestic rights deal (2024-29) with Sky and DAZN which brings the league €900 million per season and a three-year overseas TV rights deal (2024-27) that brings €367 million annually. 

However, after using their revenue distribution methods, and using their past standings during the 2024/25 season as reference, the most any Serie A club stands to make during the 2025/26 season is roughly €94 million by Juventus, followed by Inter Milan with €83.2 million and AC Milan €81.6 million – after including both merit-based incentives and the income from the popularity quota. 

Thus, this disparity in revenue generation has been gradually widening the gap between the PL clubs and the rest of Europe before the latest UCL league phase standings shed some light on exactly how big this gap has become. 

Affecting Their Wage Structures & Competitiveness

During the 2016/17 season, Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona held the biggest wage bill in European football. Barca were leading the way with €260 million in salaries with Real Madrid sitting someway off in second place with €200 million. Bayern Munich at the time had a wage bill of €162 million while Juventus – the top dog in Serie A during that period – had a wage bill of roughly around €120 million. 

Top European Clubs & Their Wage Bill During the 2016/17 season (source: Capology) 

In comparison, Manchester United held the biggest wage bill in PL, rounding off to €175 million with city rivals Manchester City occupying the second spot with a €152 million wage bill. Arsenal – being third on the list – had a wage bill of ~€118 million. 

Fast forward ten seasons and the entire landscape has changed across Europe. Although the highest wage bill in world football still belongs to a Spanish club, it’s Real Madrid who’ve leapfrogged their rivals Barcelona to the top spot. Madrid currently holds a €307.5 million wage bill – roughly equating to £266 million in salaries. Barcelona following their recent financial struggles, have dropped their wage bill to €234 million. 

In Germany, Bayern Munich have a wage bill of ~€260 million, while Borussia Dortmund (€116 million) are the only other club in Germany to cross the 100-million mark. In Italy, Inter Milan currently leads the way with €135 million while three over clubs – Juventus, AS Roma and Napoli – all sit between €110-125 million in wages.  

Top European Clubs & Their Wage Bill During the 2025/26 season (source: Capology)

When we look at the English clubs, though, there has been a significant increase in their wage structure. Manchester City leads the way with £240 million (or €277 million) in wages, followed by Arsenal with €216 million. However, the most striking aspect of this list is that the team with the eighth highest wage bill in England (i.e. Newcastle United with €136 million ) is only behind Real, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain across the other four top leagues. 

This is the harsh reality of European football. If we dig a little deeper, the wage bill for the top teams in La Liga has only jumped by 18.2% over the last decade. The top clubs in Serie A have seen a rise around 40-45%, although both Juventus and AC Milan did very little in that time. In Ligue 1, PSG saw their wage bill increase by 45%, however, the biggest jump was seen across the Premier League. Some of the top teams like Man City and Arsenal have seen a 70-80% jump in their wage bill and as a result have been able to recruit some of the best talents from around the world. 

Why Can’t PL Clubs Win More UCL Titles? 

With every data supporting the rise of Premier League clubs across Europe, Why do they still struggle to translate their league-phase dominance into knockout success? In the group and league stages, their deep squads and physical intensity allow them to overpower opponents while maintaining high energy levels, dominating continental opposition in near-ruthless fashion – much like Chelsea’s 3-0 demolition of Barcelona in November, which left the Spanish giants shellshocked.

But come the knockout rounds late in the season, the tide could turn completely. For one thing, the knockout format is inherently unpredictable, and Premier League sides could even face each other as early as the round of 16 – Chelsea and Newcastle, for instance, could be drawn together prematurely. For another, it echoes a famous line once attributed to Michel Platini: English players are “lions in winter, lambs in spring”. A gruelling domestic campaign that leaves them exhausted by the season’s end.

Ironically, this physical drain stems directly from the ferocious competition within the Premier League itself. Unlike some of the other top leagues, where it’s a monopoly or duopoly, English clubs must battle relentlessly in domestic football, with a fixture list far more draining than those faced by teams in other leagues. 

Bayern Munich, for example, currently hold an eight-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga with just one defeat all season, and given the gulf in quality compared to the rest of the league, they can prioritise the knockout stages when the time comes. The same can be said for Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1. Even La Liga giants Real Madrid and Barcelona have a level of freedom to pick and choose which match to prioritise. However, their English counterparts can seldom afford such luxury. 

Thus, for now, fixture fatigue appears to be the only hope remaining for Europe’s other clubs to compete with the Premier League. Even that, however, looks like a faint prospect. Premier League clubs keep growing stronger, and the Champions League is increasingly becoming their private fiefdom – in effect, a super-league for English sides.