Uefa counts the cost of sharp drop in TV revenues

Europe's leading clubs will receive less money from next season's Champions' League after Uefa faced up to the end of game's golden years by revealing that it expects a "drastic decrease" in television revenue from the competition.

Europe's leading clubs will receive less money from next season's Champions' League after Uefa faced up to the end of game's golden years by revealing that it expects a "drastic decrease" in television revenue from the competition.

Uefa is predicting TV money from the Champions' League to drop by £110m next year compared to this season when the new deals are finalised.

The figures were revealed in Uefa's budget for next year at the annual congress of European football's governing body here. Under the current deal, the Champions' League television rights are worth just over 1bn Swiss francs (£480m) a year and those are expected to drop to £375m.

Uefa's chief executive, Gerhard Aigner, said: "We have had a kind of golden phase which is going now and we have to accept some normalisation. The income from the Champions' League is going to diminish because of market developments, but also because we have changed the format to a smaller competition. Obviously everyone will have to get a smaller share: Uefa, the clubs and the national associations."

The new format of the Champions' League, with the second group phase scrapped, would mean fewer matches for the 32 clubs who qualify.

The final figure is not yet known as several countries have yet to sign a new TV deal for the Champions' League.

The Arsenal and Football Association vice-chairman David Dein, also in Rome for the congress, said: "We will just have to grin and bear it."

Despite the fall in TV revenue from the club competitions, which makes up 75 per cent of Uefa's income, the organisation remains in a healthy financial position. Uefa has cash reserves of £115m and will receive £363m for the television rights to next year's European Championship finals.