Manchester United Would Miss Out On £50m If They Lose To Ajax

Manchester United who are currently 6th in the English Premier League have only the Europa League Final as a route to Champions League this season  as things stand, but if qualification for Europe's elite club competition is not enough motivation for the red devils the prospect of missing out on  £50m if the lose against Ajax should be.

Failure to qualify for the champions league for a second consecutive season would trigger a  £21m penalty in their 10 year,  £750m sponsorship deal with Adidas. The Old Trafford club also expect to earn up to  £30m more by being in the Champions league.

The potential  £21m loss of income from Adidas represent 30% of this season  £70m annual payment. It would be spread across the 10-year length of the contract, with £4.2 deducted immediately to cover the first two years of the deal and  £2.1m knocked of the payments for each remaining year of the deal.

Manchester United's financial officer  Cliff Baty said the winners of the cup final on May 24th would pocket  £6.5m and the losers  £3.5m. Baty went on to say that in a normal year  £40m and  £50m in the Champions league compared to between  £15m and  £20m in the Europa league.

Although Additional income from the Europa League market pool of between 7m and 8m has helped soften the financial impact of being in the Europa League this season. The extra revenue is one of the reasons they raised overall projections for the year to between 560m and 570m when they announced third quarter results, with profits between  £185m and  £195m now anticipated. United's record profit is  £191.1m.

Manchester United play Ajax on the 24th of May and will miss out on Champions league football if the sustain a defeat, meanwhile Ajax who are in the play offs after finishing second in the Dutch Eredivisie will do straight to the Champions League if they triumph.