Two seasons. 21 knockout ties. 21 victories. The Premier League's grip on the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Conference League has become near-total — yet the picture looks very different once English clubs enter the UEFA Champions League's knockout rounds.
A financial gulf driving the gap
The numbers behind this dominance are stark. The Premier League earns more than £1.37 billion per season in broadcasting revenue alone — a figure the combined total of La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga, and Ligue 1 can only match collectively. La Liga, the biggest of those four at approximately £780 million, takes the largest individual share.
That financial weight shows up clearly in the 2026 Deloitte Money League. While Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Paris St-Germain occupy the top four positions, 15 of the remaining 30 clubs are from the Premier League. Brighton sit 23rd, Everton 24th, Bournemouth 26th — despite their ground holding just 11,000 fans — Wolverhampton Wanderers 29th, and Brentford 30th.
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire put the mismatch in plain terms to BBC Sport:
