Performance and Progress Payments in the Competition

The second pillar of the distribution is tied to what happens on the pitch. A club is paid for its performances and for its progress, so the money follows the results, and a side that advances deep into the competition gathers more than one that exits at the first hurdle.

Payments for results

A club earns for each match it plays. Wins and draws in the league phase carry a value, so the points a club collects are matched by payments, and the performance pillar turns the table into money as well as standing.

The link is direct. Because the payment follows the result, a club's income from this pillar rises as its form improves, and the eight matches of the league phase are eight opportunities to add to the total.

Payments for progress

Beyond the matches, a club is paid for the rounds it reaches. Advancing from the league phase, then through the playoff and the knockout rounds, each carries its own reward, so progress is valued as well as performance.

The compounding is the point. A club that reaches a later round collects the payments of every stage along the way, so a long run in the competition is worth much more than the sum of its individual results.

Why the structure rewards a long run

The design favours the club that stays in the competition. Because each round adds to the total, a side that reaches the final accumulates payments from every stage, while a side eliminated early collects only what its short campaign produced.

This is why the performance pillar is the most sporting part of the distribution. It pays for winning and for advancing, and its sums differ sharply between a club that runs deep and one that leaves at the first opportunity.

The balance between the pillars

The performance pillar is one of four, and it sits beside the base share, the value pillar and the market pool. So a club's results are not the whole of its income, but they are the part of it that the club controls most directly on the pitch.

The balance matters. A club cannot change its market overnight or lift its coefficient in a season, but it can win matches and advance, and the performance pillar is the part of the distribution that answers most immediately to the football.

Reading the performance pillar

The performance pillar should be read as the sporting half of the money. It takes the results of a campaign and translates them into a share, and it does so in a way that a club can influence from the first matchday.

For a reader, the pillar explains why a long run is prized beyond the trophy. It is worth a place in the draw of the next season, and it is worth a larger share of the money in this one, so success on the pitch compounds twice over.

• Performance payments follow results and progress.
• Each match in the league phase carries a value in payments.
• Each round reached carries its own reward.
• A long run collects the payments of every stage.
• The pillar is the part of the money most responsive to play.
• It sits beside the base share, the value pillar and the pool.

The performance pillar is the sporting half of the distribution. It pays for winning and for advancing, it compounds with every round, and it gives a club a direct influence over its own share that the other pillars cannot offer.