Ekstraklasa increases its payments to the clubs

The remaining cup entrants can also expect to receive much larger amounts this year. Lech Poznań, which finished second in the table, will receive EUR 5.95 million, and Piast Gliwice will get over EUR 4.70 million, i.e. EUR 1.27 million more than it earned last year for winning the championship. Ekstraklasa will also pay an extra EUR 709 thousand to the winner of the Polish Cup. Depending on the final result, this money will go to Lechia Gdańsk or Cracovia.

- From the beginning of the season, we had been very satisfied with the amounts of the contracts with broadcasters and sponsors as well as with the high payments we expected to make to the clubs. However, we had not expected that we would have to struggle so hard to defend these budgets during the season. The record-high amounts now paid to the clubs are, in a way, a reward for the tremendous effort made to resume and finish the games after the interruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic – comments Marcin Animucki, President of the Management Board of Ekstraklasa SA.

– We have endured some very difficult times when the Covid-19 epidemic resulted in the suspension of the games in March, casting doubt on the fulfilment of the contracts with our partners. However, the enormous contribution of Ekstraklasa and all clubs, which were very strongly involved and which appointed high-class experts to join the crisis team, and close collaboration with the Polish Football Association (PZPN) and the government enabled us to prepare a well-thought-out and effective plan for resuming the games. As a result, we resumed training already in the beginning on May and restarted the games around the end of that month, as one of the first leagues in Europe. Now, after the conclusion of the season last weekend, we can be proud of our ability to mobilize ourselves and take effective steps despite this very difficult situation and high uncertainty over what would happen. This way, we have been able to conclude the season on the field successfully and – most importantly – in good health. I would like to thank our media partners and sponsors, who demonstrated a flexible approach to this non-standard situation, enabling us to make the full payments to the clubs within such a short time – adds Marcin Animucki.

Starting from the 2019/2020 season, the money given to Ekstraklasa clubs on account of centralised media and marketing rights is distributed according to the new rules. Almost half of it – 44% of the funds to be paid out – is distributed fairly and equally to all clubs. The remaining funds are split as follows: 20% for the position in the historical ranking, 18% for the place in the table at the end of the season, 14% for the four teams qualified for the UEFA games, and 0.5% for the clubs in the bottom eight, as the solidarity fee. Also, starting from the previous season, support amounting to 1% is distributed to the teams relegated from Ekstraklasa to I liga (First League). In the previous season, Ekstraklasa also increased the amount of funds for the training of young football talents to EUR 3.82 million per year (2.5% of the distributed funds), approx. EUR 1.26 million of which is distributed to the clubs as part of the Pro Junior System programme.