ECA agrees new deal with UEFA

The European Club Association has agreed a deal with UEFA that will see clubs sharing 1.6bn from involvement in the Champions League and Europa League for 2015-18 - an increase of around 32 per cent.

UEFA has moved to increase the financial rewards from playing in the Europa League by announcing prize money for the tournament will increase by 65 per cent.

An increase in television money for UEFA will also see prize money for the Champions League rise, but the disparity with the Europa League will not be so significant.

Clubs currently in the Champions League earn an average of four-and-a-halftimes as much as those playing in the Europa League, but in the future UEFA willfix the ratio at 3.3 to one. Solidarity payments to those clubs who fail toqualify for the group stages will also rise significantly.

The prize money for the Champions League winners will rise from 7.6m to 10.9m, with the winners earning a maximum of 39.6m in addition to their share of television money.

UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino said: "UEFA is really pleased that the new distribution system not only provides for a substantial rise in monies received by clubs participating in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, but also strengthens UEFA's solidarity principle, namely ensuring an even more substantial increase in solidarity payments to clubs.

"In this way, the new system provides a better deal for everyone, especially those clubs which did not qualify to the group stage of either of the two UEFA club competitions.

"This is a perfect example of the proper implementation of the solidarity principle which forms an essential part of UEFA's key values."

Meanwhile, the ECA is to have two representatives co-opted on to UEFA's executive committee, one of whom is expected to be ECA president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.