Benfica raking in the dough in Champions League

Benfica's win over Dynamo Kiev earlier this week and the clinching of a spot in the Champions League round of 16 sees the club near an all time high for earnings in the UEFA competition. Benfica have earned €54.3M to date in the competition, only surpassed by the €56.8M during the 2018/19 campaign which was the first season of the competitions new revenue sharing plan.

Benfica could add an additional €10.6M if the club is to advance past the round of 16 to the quarter-final stage. The current earnings do not include TV revenue which is awarded at the conclusion of the season based on the value of Portugal's TV market and shared between Benfica, Sporting and FC Porto who were all participants in the group stage portion.

Benfica win to advance to round of 16 in Champions League

Benfica did their part and got a some help to advance to the Champions League round of 16 for the first time since the 2016/17 edition of the tournament. Benfica scored a pair early goals in the first 22 minutes of the game and held on to defeat Dynamo Kiev 2-0. Across the continent in Munich, Bayern provided the assist that the Lisbon club needed when they defeated Barcelona 3-0, moving Benfica one point ahead of the Spanish side and into the knockout stages.

Benfica will earn an additional €9.6M for advancing out of the group stage and into the final 16, they will be joined by Sporting who also advanced as group runners up. Benfica will find out their opponents in February on Monday December 13 when the UEFA draw takes place. Benfica will avoid German giants Bayern Munich but that still leaves one of the following seven, Manchester City, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Liverpool, Juventus, Lille and Ajax as the clubs next opponents.

Benfica ready to loan youngsters again

According to Portuguese daily A Bola, Benfica will be slimming down the squad when the transfer window opens in January with the likely loan departures of Seixal made youngsters Gedson Fernandes and David Ferro. The 24 year old Ferro and 22 year old Gedson have appeared in only 177 minutes combined across all competitions this season and the club feels that the two sitting does no good to their values going forward.

Gedson has already spent the prior season and a half on loan with Tottenham and Galatasaray, while Ferro spent half of last season on loan at Valencia. Benfica have their eyes on acquiring a center back during the winter window to add some depth to the squad after the season ending injury on the back end to Lucas Verissimo and manager Jorge Jesus prefers to have the minimum amount of players on the practice field when he prepares for matches.