How Much Did Dinamo Zagreb Earn From the UEFA Champions League?

The UEFA Champions League banners and pre-match anthem have been put away for another year at Dinamo Zagreb’s Maksimir stadium…

A far from disappointing performance against one of the favourites to take out this season’s UEFA Champions League, Bayern Munich, a couple of weeks ago capped off the Croatian champions 5th Champions League campaign.

This year started brightly for the ‘Modri’ when they disposed of Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal side 2-1 in the opening matchday of the season on a warm night in Zagreb. The manner of the victory, which saw Dinamo play an attacking brand of football, gave the fans hope that this year the club could break its decades-long drought and still be involved in European competition in the Spring.

Unlucky losses to Olympiacos and a reality check in Munich soon put paid to that dream and Dinamo would have to settle for a return of just 3 points from their 6 UEFA Champions League group-stage matches.

Despite just one win from six the club still generated some serious cash for their short performance in the tournament. But how much exactly?

It is difficult to know the exact amount, but daily Sportske novosti estimate the club this year earned around 20 million euro through appearances, results and its share of UEFA marketing.

Dinamo finished bottom of the group

Before a ball was kicked in the group stages the club had made 14 million euros. That was the pay-day this year for just qualifying for this year’s UEFA Champions league. The win over Arsenal alone bought in 1.5 million euros, whilst ticket packages bought in another 2 million euros.

The club also received 2.4 million kuna (cca 300,000 euros) from the Zagreb Tourist Board ahead of the UEFA Champions League for promotion of the city. During the six matches the club played with the Zagreb Tourist Board logo on their shirts.

Dinamo played with the Zagreb Tourist Boad logo on their kit this year (photo/instagram)

 
The Tourist Board would have definitely seen a return for their money with around 5,000 Bayern Munich fans and 1,000 Arsenal fans arriving for match days in Zagreb.

What is not factored in also to that amount is the potential increase in players value and what added would be made on future transfers.

The UEFA Champions League is definitely one competition losers on the field are winners in the finance department.

(main photo/screenshot)