Italian Sides Lazio And Roma Chase UEFA Europa League Round Of 16 — And Its Prize Money

Two Serie A teams, Lazio and Roma, are currently competing in the UEFA Europa League, Europe’s second most important club tournament behind the UEFA Champions League.

With two group stage games remaining, the Italian sides are desperately looking to qualify to the next phase of the UEFA Europa League and reap the financial rewards that come with featuring among the competition’s last 16.

Following last year’s remarkable victory in the UEFA Europa Conference League, Roma will try to add another piece of European silverware to their trophy wall.

To do so, they need to overcome the group stage hurdle by finishing either first or second in Group C, a task that has proven quite challenging for the Giallorossi, who are currently sitting in third place with four points.

On Thursday, they are traveling to Finland to face HJK Helsinki in a must-win match, while the following week they are scheduled to host Bulgarian side Ludogorets in what will likely be the decisive fixture.

Because they cannot afford making any mistakes, Roma will strongly rely on the experience of their head coach Jose Mourinho: As one of the most successful managers in world soccer, Mourinho knows the importance of advancing to the knock-out phase of the UEFA Europa League, a tournament that he won with Manchester United in 2017.

Lazio, Roma’s city rivals and arch-enemies, are fighting for a top-two finish in what has currently been the most balanced and exciting of all eight UEFA Europa League group stages.

With two games to go, all four teams in Group F are standing on five points, with the Biancocelesti behind Dutch side Feyenoord and Danish side FC Midtjylland due to the goal-difference rule.

Head coach Maurizio Sarri, who is renowned for preaching one of the most entertaining brands of soccer in Italy’s Serie A, is not new to this tournament: While at the helm of English Premier League side Chelsea during the 2018/19 season, he led the Blues to their second-ever UEFA Europa League trophy.

Roma and Lazio have respectively collected €840,000 ($829,000) and €1.05 million ($1.04m) in performance bonuses so far, according to UEFA’s prize money distribution for the 2022/23 UEFA Europa League edition. That’s on top of the €3.63 million coming from starting fees, an amount that is allocated to all teams that make the tournament’s group stage.

Winning the group stage, which grants straight access to the Round of 16, means pocketing another €2.3 million. In turn, teams that finish as runners-up earn a €550,000 bonus for progressing to the knockout round play-offs, where they will fight for a slot in the last-16 and an extra €500,000 reward.

The tournament’s prize money increases in size as clubs make their way to the much coveted final, which this year will be played at Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary on May 31, 2023.

Aside from performance-based bonuses, UEFA explains, the participating teams will receive additional shares of money that vary according to their UEFA ranking and television market value.