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| Unai Emery, Manager of Aston Villa, reacts during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Aston Villa at Emirates Stadium on April 14, 2024 in London, England. |
Aston Villa still have work to do to progress into the Europa Conference League semi-finals as they face Lille for the second leg of their quarter-final on Thursday night, leading 2-1 on aggregate.
Unai Emery’s side have managed to juggle their European commitments with their quest for a top four spot in the Premier League. Following their emphatic play-off victory over Hibs in the summer, Villa suffered a brief stumble in their opening group game away at Legia Warsaw but responded well to top Group E.
That helped set up a mouth-watering tie with Ajax - whom Villa previously faced in the UEFA Cup back in 2008 - after the Dutch giants finished third in their Europa League group and overcame Bodo/Glimt in the play-off round. After a 0-0 draw in Amsterdam, Villa thrashed the Dutch giants 4-0 at Villa Park last month.
Ahead of the club's quarter-final second leg against Lille, here's a closer look at the prize money on offer if Villa continue their European adventure.
After overcoming their qualification play-off with Hibs, Villa initially earned €2.94m (£2.5m) for reaching the group stages. Emery’s team were subsequently rewarded with performance-related bonuses of €500k for a win and €166k for a draw during the group stages, helping to add another €2.166m (£1.85m) to the club’s coffers (P6 W4 D1 L1).
Finishing as group winners saw Villa receive another €650k (£554k) while playing in the round of 16 will bring an additional €600k (£512k). That took the club’s prize money to a total of €6.35m (£5.42m), plus their portion of the global €23.5m (£20m) in global TV revenue.
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Then, victory over Ajax across two legs saw Villa pocket another €1m (£850k) for reaching the quarter-finals. If Villa were to avoid defeat to Lille this week and reach the semi-finals, the prize money would be doubled to €2m (£1.7m).
Both clubs in the Europa Conference League final will receive €3m (£2.56m), with the winners earning an additional €2m (£1.7m). It means that Villa could potentially earn up to €14.35m (£12.25m) in prize money - plus their split of TV revenue - if Emery can guide Villa to a European trophy.