England's 6 clubs still in the Champions League are sailing toward $600M prize money haul

GENEVA (AP) — Top English soccer clubs are profiting even more this season from prize money in the Champions League.

Six English teams entered this Champions League edition — a record for one country — and after Wednesday's final round of opening-phase games five go direct to the round of 16 having placed in the top eight of the 36-team standings.

The sixth team, 12th-place Newcastle, will be seeded in the knockout playoffs draw Friday.

The English six are set to earn at least a combined 500 million euros ($600 million) in prize money from UEFA. The five direct qualifiers Wednesday all get an extra 2 million euros ($2.4 million): Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester City.

“Each of them could easily earn the thick end of 100 million euros ($120 million) and those that get to the semifinals and final will earn more,” Kieran Maguire, a soccer finance academic and co-host of the The Price of Football podcast, told The Associated Press on Thursday.

That would send to England more than one euro (dollar) in every five from the total UEFA prize fund of close to 2.5 billion euros ($3 billion) the European soccer body will share among the 36 Champions League clubs this season.

It is the kind of financial power that helped push Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus toward trying to launch the Super League five years ago in trying to keep pace. A backlash in England helped doom the project.

A measure of England's Champions League power is Arsenal being the only team with a perfect eight-win record, while Liverpool and Tottenham placed third and fourth despite under-performing in the Premier League.

Liverpool won four of its last five Champions League games — including against Madrid and Inter — while winning just four of 13 in the Premier League. Tottenham sits 14th in the Premier League table.

Even England's “worst” team in the Champions League so far, Newcastle, finished the league-phase standings ahead of three of Spain's five teams, three of Italy's four entries and three of Germany's four.

Spain's share of prize money will be further hit by Athletic Bilbao and Villarreal failing even to qualify for the 24-team knockout phase. Serie A champion Napoli and Eintracht Frankfurt also were eliminated.

Italy is not even sure to be involved in the round of 16 because even its best-ranked team Inter Milan — which reached two of the past three Champions League finals — was just 10th in the standings. Juventus ended in 13th and Atalanta 15th.

“It does mean that there is going to be an ever-increasing concentration of wealth in the hands of a small group of clubs,” said Maguire, who teaches at the University of Liverpool.

This dominance is fueled by three decades of rising riches from the Premier League's global broadcasting deals worth billions of dollars each season.

The nine-figure Premier League prize money paid annually to each of the 20 clubs means even mid- and lower-table teams can outbid Champions League regulars elsewhere in Europe to pay transfer fees and wages.

Expanding the Champions League last season with four more teams in the new format created a new opening for England to exploit. It was a decision driven by pressure on UEFA from the influential European Football Clubs group.

Two of the four extra places are awarded to the two countries that have the best collective record across the previous season's UEFA competitions. Title wins last year for Tottenham in the Europa League and Chelsea in the Conference League, plus all four English teams including Aston Villa reaching the Champions League knockout phase, easily secured a bonus place. Spain got the other.

This bonus system, described by Maguire as “rather bizarre,” seems to have created momentum to reward the fifth-place team in the Premier League each year for the foreseeable future.

England is far ahead in that UEFA-managed ranking table this season, though Poland is making a push for the second bonus entry thanks to strong performances in the third-tier Conference League.

“We have got a Super League by stealth," Maguire suggested about the financial strength of the Premier League and its top earning clubs, “and it does mean that the other clubs either simply have to accept their place in the pecking order of football.

"Or they have to learn to be super smart in order to try to overcome the deficit.”

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The screen shows the 6-0 result after the Champions League soccer match between Liverpool and Qarabag in Liverpool, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Darren Staples)

Tottenham's players celebrate their side's opening goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Eintracht Frankfurt and Tottenham Hotspurs in Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, January. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Arsenal's Viktor Gyoekeres celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Arsenal and Kairat Almaty in London, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

Liverpool's Florian Wirtz, left, celebrates with Liverpool's Hugo Ekitike after scoring his side's second goal during the Champions League soccer match between Liverpool and Qarabag in Liverpool, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Darren Staples)

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Panama’s Supreme Court ruled late Thursday that the concession held by a subsidiary of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings to operate ports at either end of the Panama Canal was unconstitutional, an outcome that advances a U.S. aim to block any influence by China over the strategic waterway.

The court’s ruling followed an audit by Panama’s comptroller, which alleged irregularities in the 25-year extension of the concession granted in 2021.

The Trump administration made blocking China’s influence over the Panama Canal one of its priorities in the hemisphere. Panama was U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s first overseas stop as the United States’ top diplomat.

Despite the insistence by Panama’s government and the canal authority that China has no influence over its operations, Rubio made clear that the U.S. viewed the operation of the ports as a national security issue for the U.S. President Donald Trump had gone so far as to say Panama should return the canal to U.S. control.

The court’s brief statement gave no guidance on what would happen to the ports now.

CK Hutchison’s subsidiary, Panama Ports Company, said it has not been notified yet about the decision but insisted its concession was the result of transparent international bidding.

It said in its statement that the ruling “lacks legal basis and jeopardizes not only PPC and its contract, but also the well-being and stability of thousands of Panamanian families who depend directly and indirectly on port activity, but also the rule of law and legal certainty in the country.”

It said that it reserves all rights to proceed legally in Panama or elsewhere, but gave no more details.

Political analyst Edwin Cabrera said once the parties are notified the issue of what to do with the ports goes to Panama’s executive branch, specifically the Panama Maritime Authority.

“I have the impression from conversations that I have had with some people that the operation (of the ports) will not stop,” Cabrera said.

CK Hutchison Holdings announced a deal last year to sell its majority stake in the Panamanian ports and others around the world to an international consortium that included BlackRock Inc. But the deal appeared to stall over objections by the Chinese government.

The company said last July that it was considering seeking a Chinese investor to join as a significant member of the consortium, a move that some interpreted as way to please Beijing, but CK Hutchinson haven't said more since.

The awkward position the company found itself in highlights the challenges Hong Kong business elites face in navigating Beijing’s expectations of national loyalty, especially when relations between China and the United States are strained. CK Hutchison is owned by the family of Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing.

In parallel, Panama’s comptroller audited the concession to the Panama Ports Company, which had held the contract to operate the ports since 1997. The concession was renewed in 2021 for 25 years, during the prior Panamanian administration.

Comptroller Anel Flores said the audit found payments that were not made, accounting errors and the apparent existence of a “ghost” concessions operating within the ports since 2015. The company denied those allegations.

The audit determined that the irregularities had cost the government about $300 million since the concession was extended and an estimated $1.2 billion during the original 25-year contract.

Flores also said the extension was granted without the required endorsement of his office.

On July 30, the comptroller challenged the Panama Ports Company’s contract to operate the ports before the Supreme Court.

Associated Press writer Kanis Leung in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

FILE -Cranes load a cargo ship at the Panama Canal's Port of Balboa, managed by CK Hutchison Holdings, in Panama City, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)

FILE - Ship containers are stacked at the Panama Canal Balboa port, operated by the Panama Ports Company, in Panama City, Sept. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)

FILE -A cargo ship sails past the Panama Canal's Port of Balboa, managed by CK Hutchison Holdings, in Panama City, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)

FILE - Workers carry out maintenance at the Pedro Miguel locks of the Panama Canal during routine upkeep in Panama City, Friday, May 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)