UEFA made a net profit of €847M on Euro 2016, the organization's latest financial results show, with the tournament generating total revenues of €1.92B, an increase of some €500M on the '12 tournament in Poland and Ukraine, according to Emmet Malone of the IRISH TIMES. The organizers distributed €301M to the 24 associations that participated in last summer's finals, with the FA of Ireland receiving €11M, "midway between its English and Northern Irish counterparts," which got €11.5M and €10.5M, respectively. Champion Portugal "came out on top on the financial front too," with the country's federation taking home €25.5M in prize money along with the trophy. The accounts reveal the "staggering growth" in the revenue that football generates at European level, with average annual income up more than 50% "in the last four years alone." Last year's event cost UEFA €595M to stage, which represents a "lower portion of revenue" than in '12. Total income, though, was "hugely increased" from €1.4B four years ago, "although even that figured dwarfed" the €40.9M generated when the tournament was staged in Sweden in '92. The "scale of the profits this time out" allowed UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin to announce bonus "solidarity" payments of €1M ($1.06M) to each of the 55 affiliated associations in Helsinki on Wednesday but the money will "barely make a dent" in the position of the organization which had reserves of €632M as of June 30 (IRISH TIMES, 4/6).
