Arsenal have to do something they've never done to get potential £50m windfall

For Arsenal, having re-established themselves as part of the Champions League elite couldn’t have come at a better time.

The Gunners were out in the wilderness between 2017 and last year, the club having failed to finish in the top four of the Premier League from 2015/16 until Mikel Arteta guided them to a second-placed finish in 2022/23.

It remains to be seen whether they can go one better this season, a campaign where they look to be taking the title race to the wire in the same season they are competing on a European front in the Champions League, but there is no doubt that they will once again be part of Europe’s elite knockout club competition in 2024/25.

Champions League qualification is enormously valuable and can be worth well in excess of £100m per year for clubs who go deep into the competition. But Arsenal will have to go all the way this season if they are to avoid seeing their rivals get a timely revenue boost at a time when financial controls have become a concern that most clubs have to take into account.

From 2025, FIFA’s revamped Club World Cup competition will get lift-off, with the 32-team tournament to see clubs from six confederations compete in a lucrative summer showcase to be held in the United States, a booming market for the Premier League at present, and one that will be the focus of the world’s gaze in the summer of 2026 as the World Cup heads stateside.

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There will be a number of notable absences from the competition. European giants like Liverpool, Manchester United, AC Milan, and Barcelona won’t be in