Carabao Cup prize money confirmed as Liverpool beat Chelsea in final

Liverpool will earn just £100,000 in prize money after getting their hands on the Carabao Cup trophy, with losers Chelsea taking home £50,000.

The beaten semi-finalists – Fulham and Middlesbrough – banked only £25,000 for reaching the last four, with those knocked out in the earlier rounds not making a penny in prize money.

It pales in comparison to the £100m+ on offer to the Premier League winners and a similar amount available to the Champions League victors. This season’s FA Cup winners, by comparison, will make about £4m in prize money – and the winners of the third round, when the Premier League sides entered, all made £105,000.

But beyond the base-level prize money, the League Cup remains a valuable asset to the EFL and its clubs down the pyramid. Its total annual value is estimated to be worth £80m and every club receives 45 per cent of the takings from all matches throughout the competition – which is of huge benefit to lower league sides who are drawn with one of the big guns. Gate receipts are also split in half.

About £50m of the £80m fee ends up with clubs from the 72 in the second to fourth tiers and not far off a third of the “basic award” payment – the flat fee each is club guaranteed – is generated by the competition. Clubs also bank additional money from being broadcast live on TV with a £100,000 facility fee paid from the early rounds.