Next summer’s European Championship could yield the jackpot for the winning country: a total of around 28 million euros. At club level, Anderlecht seems to be about the only Belgian team that can benefit financially.
UEFA will distribute a total of 140 million euros to all clubs that have to release their players during the European Championship. The reasoning behind this: it is the clubs that pay the players and therefore run a great risk during such a championship. There are potential injuries. The players can only join the preparation later.
That is why UEFA provides compensation. The order depends on the category in which the club is ranked. In the case of the Belgian clubs, this is the highest possible category. In 2020, such teams received 8,700 euros for every day they had to release a player. UEFA has already announced that the amounts will not differ much during the next European Championship.
The counter starts running ten days before a country starts the European Championship. The end of the group stage is 19 days away. Each player will therefore earn his club at least 165,300 euros.
Anderlecht seems to be the Belgian team that will benefit most from the arrangement. With Jan Vertonghen and Zeno Debast, the Purple & White will deliver at least two Red Devils, barring injuries. Furthermore, the Belgian record champion will also be the main supplier for Denmark. With Kasper Schmeichel, Thomas Delaney, Anders Dreyer and Kasper Dolberg, there are four Anderlecht players in the Danish ranks. In total, the Purple & White should therefore have at least 939,600 euros left over from the group phase (165,300 euros for each of the six players).
The harvest will be much meager for the other Belgian clubs. Most teams will not field an international during the upcoming European Championship. At Club Brugge, Michal Skoras is still on the balance sheet for Poland and Andreas Skov Olsen for Denmark, while Hans Vanaken does not seem to have a place in Domenico Tedesco’s selection. Standard is counting on Arnaud Bodart as the Devils’ third goalkeeper.
Antwerp also has a candidate Devil in Mandela Keita. For Racing Genk, Maarten Vandevoordt (in balance with Bodart), Andi Zeqiri (on the long list for Switzerland) and Patrik Hrosovsky on behalf of Slovakia may still be able to reach the European Championship. Hugo Siquet (Cercle Brugge) played one international match under Tedesco, but was not in the final selection. At Westerlo there is a real chance that Sergiy Sydorchuk will make the Ukrainian selection.
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Tags: Belgian club earn Anderlecht European Championship Jupiler Pro League
