Hammers to lose out on merit payment bonus

West Ham will not reap the full financial benefit of a top ten finish this season.

The Hammers merit payment for finishing 16th in the Premier League last season was £10m while Leicester City who finished fifth last term received £30m as a positional bonus so each place is worth around £2m.

This season each place merit payment has dropped by £300,000 per place due to the loss of the Chinese TV deal and other COVID based impacts to the broadcast prize pot. So a fifth-place finish  this season will be worth £4.5m less at £25.5m

West Ham also have a number of huge player bonuses which kick in when West Ham finish in ninth place or above in the Premier League table.

These were last paid out five years ago in the 2015/2016 season when the Hammers finished seventh but the overall wage bill has grown massively since then making the bonus pool much larger this time around.

The Hammers have budgeted for a 10th place finish this season so need to finish seventh or above to reap the financial benefit of this season.

The real jackpot qualification to the Champions League with the group stage worth £13.5m to each of the 32 qualifying clubs.

Performance bonuses are then paid out for each match at £2.4m per win and £800,000 per draw.

Clubs earn £8.4m for reaching the last 16 of the competition, with £8.9m on offer for advancing to the quarter-finals.

Leciester City banked a whopping €81.7million (£73.2m) for their part in the Champions League 2016/2017 competition, despite bowing out at the quarter-final stage.