The Champions League's Uneven Playing Field

When the UEFA Champions League group face kicks of tonight, it will be on an uneven playing field. While teams like Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and other giants of the game spend hundreds of millions to strengthen their squads each year, not least in pursuit of the elusive Champions League title, other clubs are happy just to be part of the competition. Not only does it give them the chance to face off with the biggest teams and stars the game has to offer, but it also guarantees them millions in additional revenue, money that makes a huge difference to clubs from minor European leagues.

According to estimates from Transfermarkt.com, there is a huge gulf in squad value between the clubs traditionally challenging for the Champions league title and those happy to be part of the show. The total transfer market value of Manchester City’s star-studded squad is almost 50 times as high as that of Israeli club Maccabi Haifa, with Czech club Viktoria Plzeň and Danish FC Copenhagen also operating on a low budget compared Europe’s elite clubs. It is partly for that reason that surprises have become increasingly rare in the world’s biggest club football competition, where the usual suspects tend to battle it out among themselves in the later stages of the tournament.