UEFA doubles prize money for Women's Euro 2022

The 16 teams in the women's competition next year will share €16 million while €4.5 million will go to clubs which releases its players.

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE: The women's tournament, originally scheduled for this year but postponed by 12 months because of the COVID-19 pandemic, is set to take place in England from July 6-31 2022.

UEFA has doubled its prize fund for the Women's Euro 2022 to €16 million ($18.75 million) with increased guaranteed payments for the 16 qualified teams.

European football's governing body said in a statement on Thursday that it had also approved the introduction of a programme which will see teams that release players for the Euros rewarded with payouts from a €4.5 million fund.

The decisions were announced following a UEFA executive committee meeting in Chisinau, Moldova on Wednesday and the continental governing body added that details of its financial distribution scheme would be made available soon.

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The women's tournament, originally scheduled for this year but postponed by 12 months because of the COVID-19 pandemic, is set to take place in England from July 6-31 2022.

UEFA also approved changes to its solidarity payment model for men's teams not participating in club competitions in the 2021-24 cycle, with full details to be announced soon.

It added that there would be increased shares for all associations outside the top five - England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France.

The move comes after UEFA had to fend off an attempt by 12 top European clubs earlier this year to form a breakaway European Super League.

Nine clubs - Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid - backed out and reached a deal with UEFA.

Changes were made to UEFA's flagship Champions League competition with the approval of a new format from 2024-25 with 36 clubs and teams set to play four more matches.

UEFA said its latest decision reaffirmed its strong financial commitment to the whole of European football.

It said the 4% solidarity for non-participating clubs, €140 million based on projected revenue of €3.5 billion, will be boosted by 30% of revenue generated by club competitions above €3.5 billion up to a maximum of €35 million.

"As a consequence, a total of €175 million is expected to be available from competition revenue for non-participating clubs, compared to €130 million in the 2018-21 cycle," UEFA added in Thursday's statement.

"And the share reserved for the non-top five associations will increase to €132.5 million (around €50 million more than with the previous scheme, representing a more than 60% increase."