The winner of this FA Cup final picks up £2.12 million. The loser gets £1.06 million. And for Manchester City and Chelsea, neither figure is what actually makes this tie financially interesting.
The real money was made getting here. Both clubs have been banking prize payments round by round since the third round, and by the time the Wembley whistle blows, the FA Cup champion will have collected just over £4.1 million across the entire run. The losing finalist still clears around £3 million. Not nothing — but not the number that moves the needle at clubs turning over hundreds of millions a year.
The round-by-round breakdown
- Third round winners: £121,500
- Fourth round winners: £127,000
- Fifth round winners: £238,500
- Quarter-final winners: £477,000
- Semi-final winners: £1.06 million
- Final winners: £2.12 million
- Final losers: £1.06 million
Stack that up and the total prize pot for the winner sits at just over £4.1 million. In the context of Premier League wages, it's a rounding error. Pep Guardiola's squad costs more per week than the entire competition pays out to its winner.
But the trophy matters. Especially for Chelsea.
McFarlane's improbable run to Wembley
Interim boss Calum McFarlane has gone from academy coach and non-league football to an FA Cup final against Guardiola through a sequence of managerial sackings that would make even the most hardened football administrator wince. Two caretaker spells. A club lurching through a chaotic season that has also put Champions League qualification at risk. And now this.
For Chelsea's odds in this one, McFarlane's inexperience at the top level is impossible to ignore. Guardiola has won this competition before and knows Wembley. That's a real edge, not just a reputation gap.
The FA Cup has always sold itself on upsets and unlikely heroes. This year, the unlikely hero is already in one of the dugouts — he just happens to be a finalist.
