Manchester United could be big winners and losers from new Champions League funding

Manchester United could be one of the big winners from the new Champions League funding system, which is set to be implemented next season.

There will be huge changes to Europe's premier club competition in a year's time when the expanded 36-team tournament is implemented, including a change on the financial side of things.

As part of the new 'Swiss-model' the group stage format itself will be scrapped, with a single league of 36 teams instead being the preferred method.

Clubs involved in the competition will play at least four more matches per season. There will be no home and away fixtures as is the case in the present day; instead, clubs will play 10 different teams, with five at home and five away.

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After a poor start to the new Premier League season, United could even be one of the sides to benefit from the new qualification rules, with two spots awarded to the two clubs with the highest club coefficients that had not qualified for the competition originally.

It means that even if United finish outside the top four this coming season, they would have a good chance of qualifying for the competition due to their historical success in Europe.

Doing so would be extremely lucrative to the club due to the new funding of the competition, with each team set to earn £28.9million for qualifying for the final tournament, up from £16.3m this season.

Even in the worst-case scenario, if United end up missing out on the tournament, they could also benefit from increased solidarity payments to clubs not playing in European competitions, which will rise from 4 per cent to 7pc in the 2024-27 cycle.

United are certainly one of the clubs that