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CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE · PRIZE MONEY · 2025/26

CAF Champions League prize money

CAF pays £14.7m to the 16 clubs at the 2025/26 CAF Champions League, and all of it is settled by how far a club gets: £4,511,278 for winning it, £526,316 for going out in the group stage.

A club is paid once, for where it finished. The band is the whole of it rather than a step on the way to it, so a club beaten in the quarter-finals collects £676,692 and not that plus every band below it.

THE POT £14.7m
RUNNERS-UP £1,503,759
WINNING IT £4,511,278
EVERY CLUB £526,316

What each finishing place pays

The five bands the 16 clubs are divided into

2025/26
The five CAF Champions League prize money bands, with the clubs in each, what one of them is paid and what the band pays out in total.
FINISHING PLACE CLUBS EACH THE BAND
Winning it 1 £4,511,278£4.5m £4,511,278£4.5m
Runners-up 1 £1,503,759£1.5m £1,503,759£1.5m
3rd and 4th 2 £902,256 £1,804,512£1.8m
5th to 8th 4 £676,692 £2,706,768£2.7m
9th to 16th 8 £526,316 £4,210,528£4.2m
Played for on the pitch 16 - £14,736,845£14.7m

What each band pays out between its clubs

Winning it £4.5m
9th to 16th £4.2m
5th to 8th £2.7m
3rd and 4th £1.8m
Runners-up £1.5m

How far each band got

Winning it £4.5m the champions, over two legs of the final
Runners-up £1.5m beaten in the final, for a third of what winning it pays
3rd and 4th £902k beaten in the semi-finals
5th to 8th £677k beaten in the quarter-finals
9th to 16th £526k third or fourth in their group

Winning it pays 8.6 times what the bottom band pays. Inside a band nothing separates one club from another: the 8 clubs going out in the group stage are paid the same £526,316 whether they lost all six group matches or missed out on goal difference.

Who collected it

Where all 16 group-stage clubs finished, and the band that paid them

2025/26
Every club at the 2025/26 CAF Champions League, the band its finish falls in and what it was paid.
CLUB BAND PAID
Mamelodi Sundowns Winning it £4,511,278£4.5m
AS FAR Runners-up £1,503,759£1.5m
Espérance de Tunis 3rd and 4th £902,256
RS Berkane 3rd and 4th £902,256
Al Ahly 5th to 8th £676,692
Al Hilal 5th to 8th £676,692
Pyramids 5th to 8th £676,692
Stade Malien 5th to 8th £676,692
JS Kabylie 9th to 16th £526,316
MC Alger 9th to 16th £526,316
Petro de Luanda 9th to 16th £526,316
Power Dynamos 9th to 16th £526,316
Rivers United 9th to 16th £526,316
Saint-Éloi Lupopo 9th to 16th £526,316
Simba 9th to 16th £526,316
Young Africans 9th to 16th £526,316

The band is the whole of it. Mamelodi Sundowns are paid £4,511,278 for winning it rather than that on top of every band below, which is what makes the five bands add up to the £14,736,845 played for.

The most and the least a club leaves with

From the champions down to the bottom band

16 clubs
Winning it £4.5m paid once, for the trophy, after twelve matches from the group stage
Going out in the group stage £526k the bottom band, and nobody in the group stage is paid less
Runners-up £1.5m £3.0m less than the champions, which is the price of losing the final

Frequently asked questions

How much do the CAF Champions League winners get?

£4,511,278, and it is the whole of what the champions are paid: there is no separate payment for each round on the way to it.

Who won the 2025/26 CAF Champions League, and what were they paid?

Mamelodi Sundowns, who were paid £4,511,278 for winning it. AS FAR were beaten in the final, a place that paid £1,503,759.

What is the CAF Champions League prize money in total?

£14,736,845 across the 16 clubs, all of it split into five bands by finishing place. There is no separate payment for taking part: the least any club collects is the bottom band.

How much does a club get for reaching the group stage of the CAF Champions League?

£526,316, and no club in the group stage collects less. It is the bottom band, which covers the 8 clubs going out in the group stage.

Does CAF Champions League prize money add up round by round?

No. A club is paid once, for where it finished, and the band is the whole of it. A club beaten in the quarter-finals collects £676,692 and not that plus every band under it. It is the opposite of the Champions League, where a club is paid again for each round it reaches.

How much do the losing CAF Champions League finalists get?

£1,503,759. The two beaten semi-finalists are paid £902,256 each.

Where to next

The rest of the money in the game

Where a competition pays again at every round rather than once at the end, see Champions League prize money, Club World Cup prize money, Europa League prize money and Conference League prize money. The domestic cups work the same way: DFB-Pokal prize money, FA Cup prize money, Carabao Cup prize money, FA Trophy prize money and FA Vase prize money. For what a league pays its clubs across a season, see Premier League prize money, La Liga prize money and La Liga 2 prize money, and for a league that publishes a percentage against every finishing position, Bundesliga prize money. Where a league publishes the shares and not the payments, see Serie A prize money. For what a relegated club is paid after it leaves, see Championship parachute payments. For another competition that pays by finishing place, see World Cup prize money, Women's World Cup prize money, Copa América prize money, Africa Cup of Nations prize money and CAF Confederation Cup prize money.