The UEFA Champions League is back this week, but for the biggest clubs, it is becoming increasingly important that it never goes away. Which is why Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea are so desperate to qualify for next season’s competition.

Commercially, they are three of the sport’s most powerful clubs, but a year outside the Champions League can lead to severe financial turbulence due to the costs of keeping pace with the rest of the elite.

Between them, Liverpool, United and Chelsea have won 11 Champions Leagues/European Cups. Add in Aston Villa‘s 1982 European Cup triumph and the four clubs chasing three Champions League spots via the Premier League — assuming Arsenal and Manchester City finish in the top two — have won as many titles as Italy’s Serie A in 70 years of European Cup football.

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But while history and prestige are significant factors in clubs wanting to compete alongside Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain, nothing is more important than the money that Champions League participation generates.

For the likes of Madrid, Barça, Bayern and PSG, playing in the Champions League has become an annual privilege. Their domestic power is now so great that it’s unthinkable for any of those clubs to miss out on qualification.

PSG’s last season outside the Champions League was 2011-12, with Bayern (2007-08), Barcelona (2003-04) and Madrid (1996-97) almost forgetting what a season without Champions League football looks like. But there are simply not enough qualification spots for the Premier League’s so-called Big Six (which continues to include Tottenham Hotspur, who are fighting relegation this season), plus Villa and Newcastle United, to be able to spend with the confidence that a Champions League payday will fund their operation.

PSG banked £125.06 million from the UEFA prize fund for winning last season’s Champions League, with runners-up Inter Milan earning £118.3 million. Of the eight quarterfinalists last season, Villa’s £72.5 million overall Champions League earnings were the smallest, but still a huge financial windfall for the club.

United, who failed to qualify for any European competition this season, are the best example of how much it can hurt a team to miss out. Aside from the UEFA prize pot, they are also missing out on additional matchday revenue at Old Trafford, which amounts to approximately £5 million for every home game. Had they enjoyed Villa’s run to the quarterfinals last term, United would have had six Champions League home games, which equates to another £30 million they could have earned.

United also have financial penalties within sponsorship deals triggered by failing to play in the Champions League, including a £10 million deduction in their £90 million-a-year shirt deal with Adidas. And although United’s playing and coaching staff suffer a 25% salary reduction whenever they fail to play in the Champions League — their annual wage bill was £313 million in their most recent accounts — that cost savings (£78.25 million) does not cover the revenue lost by not playing in the Champions League. United owe £422 million in outstanding transfer payments and £238 million of that figure is due to be repaid by the end of next season, which means a return to the Champions League for the first time since 2023-24 is crucial.

Chelsea are another club with a huge reliance on Champions League earnings. According to data released by UEFA last month, Chelsea made a loss of £355 million in 2024-25 — a figure more than twice as big as the next-highest loss, recorded by Lyon.

The £84 million banked from winning the FIFA Club World Cup last summer was a much-needed financial boost for Chelsea after playing in the UEFA Conference League last season, which generated just £19.06 million despite Enzo Maresca’s team winning the competition by defeating Real Betis in the final.

Even Liverpool, last season’s Premier League champions, face a financial headache if they miss out on Champions League qualification this season. Despite their league title, which earned Liverpool £174.9 million in prize money, and £46 million from reaching the Champions League round of 16, the club reported a pre-tax profit of just £15.2 million in their most recent financial accounts.

Liverpool also reported an annual wage bill of £428 million — the biggest in the Premier League — and that figure does not include the new contracts awarded to Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk last summer, nor does it factor in the salaries paid to new signings including Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike following last year’s £450 million transfer outlay.

Within the accounts, Liverpool’s chief financial officer Jenny Beacham made clear how important it is for the team to play at the “highest level” to cover the club’s rising costs.

“The club does face significant cost challenges, including rises in administrative, staffing and operational costs, alongside the need for us to compete at the highest level of the game, across our men’s and women’s teams,” Beacham said. “Since this reporting period we have invested significantly to continue to enhance our playing squads, investing in the club’s present and in its future too.”

Liverpool have recent experience of the downsides of missing out on the Champions League, with Jürgen Klopp’s final season as manager in 2023-24 played out in the Europa League — something that impacted the plans of his successor, Arne Slot.

“It’s very important for us as a team to be in the Champions League and it has shown how important it is for this club financially,” Slot said. “The season when I arrived, there was a reason why we only signed Federico Chiesa and that was partly because of the season before there was Europa League football.

“We know we are in a transition and a transition works better if there’s money available.”

So while the Champions League is the only place for the biggest clubs to be, it is no longer simply a prestigious bonus on top of domestic success. It has become an essential revenue driver, but in the Premier League, top clubs will inevitably miss out and the price of failure is becoming bigger and bigger.

The fate of 21 members of Iran’s women’s national soccer team remained uncertain Tuesday after five teammates were granted asylum in Australia, leaving the rest of the squad to decide whether to return to a country still reeling from war.

The Iranian team arrived in Australia for the tournament before the U.S.-Israeli attacks against Iran began on Feb. 28.

An official roster lists 26 players, along with coaches and staff. While Australian authorities confirmed that five players were transported by federal police to a secure location overnight to finalize humanitarian visas, the remaining members of the delegation have not publicly indicated whether they will seek similar protections or return to Iran.

While only five players were granted asylum, Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the offer was given to everyone on the team.

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“I don’t want to begin to imagine how difficult that decision is for each of the individual women, but certainly last night it was joy, it was relief,” Burke told reporters after signing the documents. “People were very excited about embarking on a life in Australia.”

“These women are tremendously popular in Australia, but we realize they are in a terribly difficult situation with the decisions that they’re making,” he added. “The opportunity will continue to be there for them to talk to Australian officials if they wish to.”

The move comes after the team refused to sing the Iranian anthem before their first Women’s Asian Cup match early last week against South Korea — a gesture some interpreted as protest and others as mourning amid turmoil at home. The team later sang and saluted the anthem in two subsequent matches, including ahead of their final match, when they were eliminated by the Philippines.

After the team was knocked out of the tournament over the weekend, they faced potentially returning to a country still under bombardment. The team’s head coach, Marziyeh Jafari, said on Sunday the players “want to come back to Iran as soon as we can.”

Outside the team’s hotel on Australia’s Gold Coast on Tuesday, a brief commotion erupted as demonstrators gathered near a white bus believed to be transporting players. Some protesters knelt or lay in front of the vehicle, chanting “Save our girls” and waving pre-Revolution Iranian flags before the bus departed minutes later.

The five women granted asylum said they were happy for their names and pictures to be published, according to Burke, who emphasized that the players wanted to make clear that they were not political activists.

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Iran players during their national anthem ahead of the Women’s Asian Cup soccer match between Iran and the Philippines in Robina, Australia, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (Dave Hunt/AAPImage via AP)

“Last night I was able to tell five women from the Iranian Women’s Soccer team that they are welcome to stay in Australia, to be safe and have a home here,” Burke said on X.

It remains unclear when the remaining players and staff will depart Australia or whether additional asylum requests will be made.

For the majority of the squad, the next move carries significant personal stakes — balancing family, national loyalty and safety as conflict continues in their home country.

“Australians have been moved by the plight of these brave women,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters. “They’re safe here and they should feel at home here.”

“They then had to consider that and do it in a way that did not present any danger to them or to their families and friends back home in Iran,” he continued.

The asylum offer came after U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday called on Australia to grant asylum to any team member who wanted it.

Trump had blasted Australia on social media, saying Australia was “making a terrible humanitarian mistake” by allowing the team to be “forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed.”

Supporters react towards a bus transporting Iranian woman players following their Women’s Asian Cup soccer match against the Philippines on the Gold Coast, Australia, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (Dave Hunt/AAP Image via AP)

“The U.S. will take them if you won’t,” Trump said, despite his administration’s efforts to limit the number of immigrants in the U.S. who can receive asylum for political purposes.

Just hours later, Trump praised Albanese in another post.

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“He’s on it! Five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way,” Trump wrote.

Albanese said Trump had called him for “a very positive conversation,” about the issue. The prime minister said he explained “the action that we’d undertaken over the previous 48 hours” to support the women.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

NFL free agency officially begins at 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday, with the start of the new league year. But as of Monday at noon ET, when the legal negotiation window opened, teams can now agree to terms with players.

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We’re tracking all the action of 2026 NFL free agency. Follow along live here with the latest signings, trades, cuts and contract restructures.

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