Why Chelsea could earn 6x as much money as Man City if they win the FA Cup

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Chelsea and Manchester City are set to meet in the 2025/26 FA Cup final on Saturday, May 16.

For the Sky Blues, the weekend’s showpiece is a chance to take one step closer to a domestic treble, having already won the Carabao Cup and remaining in the Premier League title race with Arsenal with two games to go.

But when it comes to Chelsea, they would guarantee a place in next season’s Europa League with a victory, which, at the low end, would earn them an extra £25m in revenue during 2026/27, compared to just the standard £4.15m Man City would net for winning the FA Cup.

How much does the 2026 FA Cup winner earn in prize money?

City have long been guaranteed a place in next season’s Champions League, while Chelsea aren’t even in a Europa Conference League place right now.

The Blues have already burned through two managers this season, and despite sacking Liam Rosenior, they remain on a run of just one win in their last 11 Premier League matches.

Such dire form has seen Chelsea slip down to ninth in the table and four points adrift of seventh with two games to go, meaning there is a real chance they will have no European football next term and, in turn, a big decline in revenue.

The financial boost of winning the FA Cup is negligible for teams the size of Man City and the London outfit.

However, as finance expert Adam Williams has exclusively explained to TBR Football, if Chelsea are able to win the FA Cup and qualify for next season’s Europa League as a result, this weekend’s match would secure them six times more than what winning would give to Pep Guardiola’s side, who are already guaranteed top-tier European football next term.

Williams said: “For winning the FA Cup, you get three kinds of benefits: 1) Direct prize money, 2) commercial and 3) European qualification.

“In the semi-finals, nearly 60 per cent of the gate receipts are split between the four competing clubs. When you look at the capacity, that’s actually pretty serious money, especially for smaller teams. However, in the final, the first 5.5 per cent cost to Affiliated Associations like regional FAs, grassroots causes and so on. After that, you take what is left over and 90 per cent goes to the FA itself and the remainder goes to the pool, which is then distributed the pool of participating clubs. So Chelsea and Manchester City effectively make nothing there.

“The winner will get £2.1m in prize money, while the runners-up will get just short of £1.1m. That takes the total prize money throughout the competition to £4.15m for the winner or £3.15m for the loser. For Chelsea and Man City, that’s only slightly more than the prize money you get for each place in the Premier League. It’s also only a little higher than the £1.8m you get from winning a Champions League league phase match. It really doesn’t move the needle for the big clubs. In fact, once you’ve paid out appearance fees, performance-related bonuses and so on, you’re not even necessarily guaranteed to be in profit.

“Commercially, having a trophy to offer sponsors for their photo shoots and marketing material can be valuable, especially if it’s the only major piece of silverware you win that season. That’s harder to quantify, of course, but there are some commercial benefits then. But again, it’s not huge money.

“For Chelsea, though not Man City, it could be the difference between playing in the Europa League next season or missing out on Europe altogether. I do think that is what is really the biggest jeopardy, financially speaking.

“At the low end, in a scenario where they lost every game in the Europa League, Chelsea would get about £11m from the flat participation fee and the value pillar. Plus, you’ve got four extra matches at Stamford Bridge as a minimum, which are worth about £2.5m each, depending on the opposition. So, that’s an extra £10m. If they went on to win the competition, that would be around £37.5m in prize money plus three home matches on top of the ones in the league phase. So all in all, a best-case scenario is worth £60m.

“Of course, that opens up a pathway to the Super Cup, then the Champions League, then the Club World Cup. Purely theoretically, then, there’s a scenario where winning the FA Cup could be worth £300m to Chelsea. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

“As a minimum, winning it would be worth £25m to Chelsea in revenue given their unique situation. That’s before costs. There’s then the complications of the settlement agreement they are under with UEFA, but that’s a story for another time. For City meanwhile, it’s really just the direct prize money, so just above £4m.”

Europa League prize money breakdown

Should Chelsea indeed go on to win the 2025/26 FA Cup, they will likely fancy their chances of going all the way in next season’s Europa League.

And as Williams mentioned, a strong run in the competition would bring with it a decent financial boost, even if it’s still not quite as lucrative as the Champions League.

2026/27’s figures may be slightly different, but the full breakdown of this season’s prize money is as follows:

• Qualification for the knockout round play-offs: €300,000 per club
• Qualification for the round of 16: €1.75m per club
• Qualification for the quarter-finals: €2.5m per club
• Qualification for the semi-finals: €4.2m per club
• Qualification for the final: €7m per club
• The UEL winners can expect to receive an additional €6m

It’s a windfall that Chelsea, who posted a pre-tax loss of £262.4m in their 2024/25 accounts, would no doubt be desperate to earn.