Chelsea who won the Conference League would give them a financial and football security network

The final stretch of the Chelsea season is here and, in contrast to their meeting in the extremely demanding premier League, the road to Wroclaw for the final of the Conference League on May 28 continues to seem very favorable.

The enormous financial advantage of Chelsea on the rest of the league of the Conference has been well documented and is promptly translatable to the strength of quality in the field.

The opponents of the quarter -finals Legia Warsaw are fifth on the Polish Polisheklasa this season and sits 71 ° in Rankings of the coefficients of the UEFA club. Overcoming them would have set a semifinal appointment with Vienna rapid (fifth in the Austrian League and 69th in the rankings of the UEFA club) or Djurgarden of Sweden (68th). Fiorentina is the only other club in the competition classified as one of the 40 UEFA clubs (36th) and Chelsea (ninth) cannot meet them until the final.

Winning this competition would therefore occupy a strange place in Chelsea’s psyche.

Becoming the first club (again) to complete the set of the main national and European trophies has a real meaning for many supporters. Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly have been anxious to lift their first silverware since they bought the club from Roman Abramovich three years ago, and it would also be an important milestone for the coach head Enzo Maresca and his young team.

Maresca could win the Conference League in her first season (Warren Little/Getty Images)

Having said that, it is difficult to imagine a lot of appetite inside or outside Chelsea for a parade of open-top bus from Stamford Bridge to Eel Brook Common if the Maresca team went all the way, and something less would be widely considered a significant embarrassment and a failure.

Regardless of the way it ends, the inaugural race of Chelsea in the third level of UEFA competition will not financially move the needle, compared to their important search for the qualification of the Champions League, which will be decided no later than three days before the Conference League final when the Maresca team envelops its campaign of the Premier League 2024-25 in the Nottingham forest.

The Champions League football was worth about £ 80 million ($ 102 million) in Chelsea in 2021-22 and 2022-23; The financial premiums of the Conference League are negligible in comparison.

“If we take a look at West Ham, when they won it in 2022-23, they got 22 million euros (£ 18.8 million) in cash prizes,” says football finance expert Kieran Maguire Atletico. “Furthermore, they had the benefit of seven games at home. They would not have been able to charge the full price due to the quality of the opposition, but probably collected 30 million euros (£ 25.7 million).

“So you take into account the expense to improve the quality of the team (to cope with multiple games). You also have transport costs, accommodation costs. You could also argue that as regards their championship position (West Ham closed at the 14th in 2022-23) and this applies £ 3 million per place.

“So the players would have had bonuses for winning the competition. So when taking into account all your costs, you are talking, in my opinion, at low millions of profits (at best).”

Chelsea is not exactly in the same position. Their incessantly high transfer expenditure always represents regular European football up to a measure in which other premier league clubs do not do so. Their team was not underlined by this championship race for conferences: Maresca was able to use the wholesale rotation for the League phase – and, at least until today, their national championship position has not suffered due to progress in direct elimination rounds.

But the most tangible advantage for Chelsea to win the Conference League would be the automatic passage that brings to the Europa League of the next season. This does not matter if Maresca gives the finish line more among the five years in the Premier League which is almost certain of being enough to bring the Champions League football back to Stamford Bridge in 2025-26, but it will be a precious insurance policy if they end up losing.

Opta currently projects Chelsea with a probability of 43.4 percent to finish this season somewhere in the top five of the Premier League, but their most probable position of the final League is in sixth place (probability of 27.2 percent). If they were to slip further in seventh place (probability of 19 %), it opens the potential nightmare scenario of Aston Villa or Crystal Palace by winning the England Cup and bringing them back to the league of the conference, such as Manchester United last season.

The participation of the Europa League in 2025-26 would not be even an electrifying perspective, but it would be a clear and important step for Chelsea in financial terms.

Chelsea wants to qualify for the Champions League (Clive Rose/Getty Images)

“Manchester United collected 32 million euros (£ 27.4 million) in 2022-23 and were eliminated in the quarterfinals, so when taking into account additional matches, the additional premium, for having won it, it is likely that you are somewhere in the region of € 45 million (£ 38.6 million) at € 50m (£ 42.8m) as a great premium club.

“In addition, you have your games in the house, so if you add six, you are probably looking for € 60 million (£ 51.4 million). You have additional operating costs, but the net benefit of a happy new year in the Europa League for a club with the state of Chelsea is around € 25 million (£ 21.4 million) for € 30 million (£ 25.7m).”

The meaning of that increase in revenue is underlined by the last two years of the published counts of Chelsea, in which the controversial internal sales of the two hotels outside Stamford Bridge and Chelsea were required to compensate for enormous operational losses and maintain the club on the right side of the profit and sustainability rules of the Premier League. A punishment for not having remained within the financial limits of UEFA, which do not allow to consider these transactions in conformity calculations – is currently under discussion.

It is more likely that it is a fine than a sports rigor, allowing Chelsea to undertake a new European adventure next season. The property and supporters would like to return to the Champions League a lot, but lifting the Conference League in May would guarantee at least the football of the Europa League and prevent them from being a giant again among the relative fish.

(Photo above: Valentin Flauraud/AFP via Getty Images)