Aston Villa must overturn a two-goal deficit against Olympiacos tonight if they are to bank the maximum prize money available from the Europa Conference League.
Unai Emery‘s side suffered a 4-2 defeat in the reverse fixture at Villa Park, coming back from two goals down before the Greek side reinstated their cushion, with Ayoub El Kaabi netting a hat-trick.
Douglas Luiz’s late missed penalty means that Villa have a mountain to climb going into the second leg in Athens tonight, but their performances this season have shown they are more than capable.
Villa, who are almost certain to be playing lucrative Champions League football next term, overcame Lille and Ajax in the previous knockout rounds after coming through the group stage with 13 points from 18.
The club have already banked around £12m from their Conference League exploits this term.
And while that figure pales in comparison to the bounty on offer in next season’s Champions League, there is still more Conference League cash on offer this season.
How much will Villa earn for reaching the final?
Villa’s final jackpot could potentially be around £16m – here’s the breakdown.
Per UEFA‘s official figures, Villa earned £2.5m for reaching the group stage after their emphatic play-off win against captain John McGinn‘s former side Hibs.
A total of four victories, one draw and one loss in the group stage brought performance bonuses of £1.9m, while finishing top of the group was worth another £560k.
Their victories in the round of 16 and quarter-finals were worth £1.4m collectively, while exiting at the semi-final stage would give Villa an additional £1.7m.
That means prize money alone so far this season has been worth just over £8m to Villa.
It is understood that the UEFA coefficient pot meanwhile will be worth around £600k to Villa this season.
And the TV money pot, which is split according to the value of the each UEFA member’s domestic Conference League TV deal, will give the club an extra £3.4m.
That gives them a total of £12m banked already.
Villa will trouser £2.6m if they reach the final, topped up to £4.3m for lifting the trophy in the Agia Sophia Stadium in Athens at the end of the month, giving them £16.3m in total.