A note on names
English-language coverage of Polish football gets tangled in terminology, so it is worth clearing up first.
- Ekstraklasa (officially the PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa) is Poland’s top division. It is operated by Ekstraklasa S.A., a league company owned by its 18 clubs and the Polish FA (PZPN). It sells and distributes its own broadcast and commercial rights.
- Betclic 1. Liga — despite the name — is the second tier. It is marketed centrally by the PZPN, not by the league company, and the sums involved are an order of magnitude smaller.
This article covers the Ekstraklasa. The second tier is dealt with separately at the end, because the gap between the two is one of the more instructive numbers in Polish football finance.
Key takeaways
- Ekstraklasa S.A. has approved a record operating budget of PLN 367.5m (approx. €86.5m / £75m) for 2026/27.
- Of that, PLN 290m (approx. €68m / £59m) is distributed to the 18 clubs under the agreed model, plus PLN 4.1m for the country’s fifth European qualifier and roughly PLN 3m in additional commercial services.
- The formula: 50% equal share, 33.5% current-season sporting performance, 14% five-year historic ranking, 2.5% youth-minutes programme.
- 2026/27 is the final year of the Canal+ contract signed in October 2022 (four seasons, close to PLN 1.3bn). The tender for the cycle from 2027/28 is expected to open in September 2026, run by IMG.
- For context: 2025/26 closed at PLN 301.1m distributed — the first time the league has cleared PLN 300m. Champions Lech Poznań took PLN 36.8m (approx. €8.7m).
1. The rights base: Canal+ through 2026/27
The Ekstraklasa’s revenue rests on a single dominant broadcast contract. Canal+ Polska signed a four-season deal in October 2022 covering 2023/24 to 2026/27, worth close to PLN 1.3bn in total — the largest media agreement in the history of Polish club football.
The structure will look familiar to anyone who follows mid-sized European markets:
- Exclusive domestic live rights to every Ekstraklasa fixture, plus magazine and highlights rights across television, Canal+ Online and internet distribution including YouTube.
- A mandatory free-to-air sub-licence: Canal+ must pass one match per round, plus highlights, to a free-to-air broadcaster. TVP Sport fills that role.
- A progressive fee curve rising from roughly PLN 270m in year one to around PLN 300m in the final season, 2026/27.
- International distribution is handled separately. Matches reach more than 20 territories, with direct-to-consumer coverage for viewers outside Poland via the Ekstraklasa.TV platform.
One distinction matters for any comparison work. The money clubs receive is not the broadcast fee. Ekstraklasa S.A. also sells league sponsorship centrally — title partner PKO Bank Polski since 2019, main partner Totalizator Sportowy under its LOTTO brand, and more recently the logistics operator InPost. All of it feeds the same distribution pot. Analysts who map “TV money” onto the club payout number will overstate the broadcast component.
2. The 2026/27 budget
The Ekstraklasa S.A. supervisory board signed off the 2026/27 budget in July 2026. It is the largest in the league’s history.
| Line | PLN | ≈ EUR* | ≈ GBP* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Ekstraklasa S.A. budget | 367,500,000 | 86.5m | 75.0m |
| of which: club distribution under the model | 290,000,000 | 68.2m | 59.2m |
| of which: bonus for 5th European qualifier | 4,100,000 | 1.0m | 0.8m |
| of which: additional commercial services to clubs (LED, tickets, boxes) | c. 3,000,000 | 0.7m | 0.6m |
| of which: payments to the PZPN | c. 12,200,000 | 2.9m | 2.5m |
| within that: co-funding of the Double Pass programme | c. 1,800,000 | 0.4m | 0.4m |
| Barter value (Hawk-Eye technology, Adidas equipment, pitch protection) | just under 12,000,000 | 2.8m | 2.4m |
* Indicative rates of 4.25 PLN/EUR and 4.90 PLN/GBP. The złoty moves; conversions are for scale only.
The PLN 290m is a floor, not a ceiling. The league budgets conservatively and folds in-season commercial overperformance into the final settlement. Last season the model pot was also budgeted at PLN 290m; the clubs ultimately received PLN 301.1m, because the distributable pot grew to roughly PLN 296m and additional payments were made on top. League management has said publicly that it expects to clear PLN 300m again.
3. The distribution formula
The model was agreed unanimously by all 18 clubs in June 2023 and written into the league’s statutes. It has run unchanged since 2023/24 and has been explicitly carried forward for 2026/27.
| Pillar | Share | 2026/27 value (PLN, on a 290m base) | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Equal share | 50.0% | 145,000,000 | Split evenly across 18 clubs |
| 2. Sporting performance | 33.5% | 97,150,000 | Current season |
| – final league position | 18.5% | 53,650,000 | Finishing place |
| – European qualification | 14.0% | 40,600,000 | UEFA competition entry |
| – relegation solidarity | 1.0% | 2,900,000 | Places 16–18, conditional |
| 3. Historic ranking | 14.0% | 40,600,000 | Five prior seasons, weighted |
| 4. Młodzieżowiec 2.0 | 2.5% | 7,250,000 | Minutes played by young Polish players |
| Model total | 100% | 290,000,000 | |
| Additional: 5th European qualifier | – | 4,100,000 | budgeted separately |
The 2.5% pillar works out at exactly the PLN 7.25m the league has confirmed for its youth programme — a clean cross-check that PLN 290m is genuinely the calculation base.
3.1 The equal share (50%)
Half the pot is divided evenly: roughly PLN 8.06m per club (approx. €1.9m / £1.65m). The equivalent figure actually paid out for 2025/26 was PLN 8,222,700, once the pot had grown.
For clubs in the bottom third this is the dominant line item. At Widzew Łódź it accounted for around 70% of everything the club received from the league last season. That is the pillar doing its intended job: raising the floor without flattening the competition.
The share was increased from 44% to 50% in the 2023 reform, funded by cutting the historic-ranking pillar from 20% to 14% — a redistribution from established clubs towards the rest of the division, agreed unanimously and, notably, driven by a written petition from twelve of the eighteen clubs.
3.2 Sporting performance (33.5%)
This is where the differentiation happens, and it splits three ways.
League position (18.5%)
The PLN 53.65m is allocated on a linear ladder: 1st place takes 18 units, 18th place takes one. With 171 units in total, each is worth roughly PLN 313,700.
| Position | Units | Modelled 2026/27 value (PLN) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 | 5,647,400 |
| 2 | 17 | 5,333,600 |
| 3 | 16 | 5,019,900 |
| 4 | 15 | 4,706,100 |
| 5 | 14 | 4,392,400 |
| 6 | 13 | 4,078,700 |
| 7 | 12 | 3,764,900 |
| 8 | 11 | 3,451,200 |
| 9 | 10 | 3,137,400 |
| 10 | 9 | 2,823,700 |
| 11 | 8 | 2,509,900 |
| 12 | 7 | 2,196,200 |
| 13 | 6 | 1,882,500 |
| 14 | 5 | 1,568,700 |
| 15 | 4 | 1,255,000 |
| 16 | 3 | 941,200 |
| 17 | 2 | 627,500 |
| 18 | 1 | 313,700 |
Modelled, not published. Ekstraklasa S.A. does not release the ladder. The 18:1 linear structure is reconstructed from disclosed actuals and reconciles to the złoty against last season’s settlement (see methodology).
Worth noting for readers used to English football: the gap between first and last on this ladder is about PLN 5.3m, or €1.25m. Merit payments in the Premier League move in tens of millions. The Polish ladder is a tiebreaker, not a determinant.
European qualification (14%)
This is the pillar that actually sets the financial hierarchy. PLN 40.6m goes exclusively to clubs that have qualified for a UEFA competition, tiered by entry route. Poland has five European entrants in 2026/27, and the league has ring-fenced PLN 4.1m for the fifth — the same amount as the fourth.
| Entry route | Modelled 2026/27 value (PLN) |
|---|---|
| Champions (Champions League path) | c. 16.3m |
| Second Champions League berth | c. 12.2m |
| Europa League berth | c. 8.1m |
| Conference League berth (4th) | c. 4.1m |
| Conference League berth (5th) | 4.1m (budgeted separately) |
Modelled. Derived from 2025/26 actuals net of the calculated position payment, then scaled to the 2026/27 base. Only the PLN 4.1m for the fourth and fifth qualifiers is officially confirmed.
The concentration effect is stark. In 2025/26 the five European qualifiers took PLN 132.7m between them — roughly 44% of the entire distribution for 28% of the clubs — of which about PLN 45.6m was the direct European bonus.
Relegation solidarity (1%)
PLN 2.9m is set aside as a parachute for the clubs finishing 16th to 18th, with a condition: the club must have spent at least the two seasons preceding relegation in the Ekstraklasa. Promoted sides who go straight back down get nothing. Unclaimed money flows back into the current-season sporting pot.
That clause was triggered last season. Only one of the three relegated clubs qualified; the released funds were redistributed into the position ladder, measurably raising the unit value. The board granted the two ineligible clubs a discretionary one-off payment of around PLN 494,000 each.
3.3 Historic ranking (14%)
PLN 40.6m is allocated on results from the five preceding seasons, weighted so that the most recent carries the greatest weight and the fifth-back the least.
The pillar cushions in both directions. A traditional club having a poor year does not fall off a cliff; a promoted club starts from close to zero. But the spread is moderate rather than decisive — last season only two clubs cleared PLN 4m from this pot, while the bottom of the range sat under PLN 1m.
A worked example from 2025/26. Legia Warsaw had a far stronger historic ranking than GKS Katowice — PLN 3.64m against PLN 0.97m. GKS earned PLN 8.79m from current-season performance against Legia’s PLN 4.31m, and finished the settlement ahead: PLN 17.99m to PLN 16.70m. Year on year, Legia fell 21.8% while GKS rose 46.1%. History pads a bad season. It does not replace points.
3.4 Młodzieżowiec 2.0 (2.5%)
PLN 7.25m rewards clubs for giving young Polish players actual minutes — scored across club appearances, international duty and loans. It replaced the earlier Pro Junior System.
The distinction matters: this is not academy funding. That is a separate line — PLN 18m, split evenly at PLN 1m per club, paid before the season starts. Combined with Młodzieżowiec 2.0 and the Double Pass co-funding, the league puts over PLN 27m into youth development.
Set against actual costs, the scale is modest. Grant Thornton put Ekstraklasa clubs’ combined academy spending at PLN 97.7m in 2024/25. The league’s largest academy spender recovered roughly 13% of its own outlay through these mechanisms. It is an incentive, not a funding model — a useful reference point for anyone comparing it to the Premier League’s Elite Player Performance Plan or the youth solidarity elements in other European leagues.
4. Payment schedule
Money reaches clubs in four tranches:
| Timing | Payment |
|---|---|
| July | First half of the equal share |
| October | Second half of the equal share |
| January | Historic ranking settlement |
| Within 14 days of season end | All remaining components |
The predictability has a financing consequence. Future receivables from media and sponsorship contracts are assignable, and Legia Warsaw disclosed exactly such an assignment in its accounts for the year ended 30 June 2025, using it as working capital. It is the same mechanism larger European clubs have used, applied at a smaller scale.
5. Reference year: the 2025/26 actuals
With 2026/27 still in progress, the completed season is the firmest comparison. Clubs received PLN 301.14m, with a further c. PLN 12m going to the PZPN — around PLN 320m in total benefits.
By pillar, per Ekstraklasa S.A.:
| Pillar | 2025/26 (PLN) |
|---|---|
| Equal share (8,222,700 × 18) | 148,000,000 |
| Sporting performance | over 103,000,000 |
| Historic ranking | over 41,000,000 |
| Młodzieżowiec 2.0 | c. 7,270,000 |
| One-off payment to relegated promoted clubs | c. 494,000 each |
| Additional commercial services | c. 3,600,000 |
Club payments (verified individual figures):
| Rank | Club | Payment (PLN) | ≈ EUR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lech Poznań | 36,819,000 | 8.66m |
| 2 | Górnik Zabrze | 29,735,000 | 7.00m |
| 3 | Jagiellonia Białystok | 26,519,000 | 6.24m |
| 4 | Raków Częstochowa | 21,677,000 | 5.10m |
| 5 | GKS Katowice | 17,991,000 | 4.23m |
| 6 | Legia Warszawa | 16,704,000 | 3.93m |
| 7 | Zagłębie Lubin | 16,042,000 | 3.77m |
| 8 | Pogoń Szczecin | 15,955,000 | 3.75m |
| 9 | Radomiak Radom | 13,390,000 | 3.15m |
| 10 | Cracovia | 12,906,000 | 3.04m |
| 11 | Piast Gliwice | 12,741,000 | 3.00m |
| — | Korona Kielce | 12,683,556 | 2.98m |
| — | Wisła Płock | c. 12,640,000 | 2.97m |
| 15 | Widzew Łódź | 11,878,762 | 2.79m |
| — | Arka Gdynia | c. 9,210,000 | 2.17m |
| — | Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza | c. 9,080,000 | 2.14m |
Disclosed data gap. Ekstraklasa S.A. published the full ranking only as a graphic. No reliable individual figures are available for Motor Lublin and Lechia Gdańsk; both sit within the PLN 11.67m–16.04m band that also contains positions 7 to 15. Rank numbers for Korona, Wisła Płock, Arka and Termalica cannot be reconciled without contradiction across the club-level releases, with two sources assigning 11th place differently. We will complete the table if the league publishes a machine-readable version.
The spread, benchmarked
The gap between top and bottom is roughly PLN 27.7m — a ratio of about 4:1.
That is a materially wider spread than the Premier League, where the combination of a large equal share, facility fees and merit payments has typically produced a top-to-bottom ratio of roughly 1.6:1 in recent seasons. The Ekstraklasa’s equal share is proportionally larger than the Premier League’s, yet its outcomes are far less equal.
The explanation is the European pillar. The Premier League does not pay clubs for qualifying for UEFA competition out of its domestic pot; the Ekstraklasa devotes 14% of everything to exactly that, plus a further ring-fenced bonus. In effect Poland uses domestic money to top up the European reward that UEFA already pays — a design choice that concentrates resources on the clubs carrying the country’s coefficient, and one that deserves more scrutiny than it usually gets in comparative work on distribution models.
6. What the central money is still worth
The nominal trend is strongly positive: PLN 137m a decade ago, PLN 230.5m five years ago, PLN 301.1m last season. In relative terms it is going the other way.
Between 2022/23 and 2024/25 the league distribution’s share of aggregate club revenue fell from 26.1% to 23.5%; measured against operating revenue excluding transfers, from 30.3% to 28.4%. European prize money, matchday, commercial income and transfers are all growing faster.
The scale of the European effect is worth stating plainly. Football Meets Data estimated that Poland’s four deepest-running European clubs earned roughly €34m from UEFA in 2025/26. At a working rate of 4.30 that is around PLN 146m — close to half of what the entire league distributed centrally, shared between four clubs. Górnik Zabrze added PLN 5m net for winning the Polish Cup on top of its PLN 29.7m league payment.
For everyone outside the qualification places, the message is uncomfortable but clear: the central payment is a reliable floor, not a competitive edge. Separation has to come from matchday, commercial, player trading or Europe.
7. The second tier: PLN 27m for the whole division
The Betclic 1. Liga is marketed by the PZPN, and the amounts are fixed annually by board resolution — for 2026/27, Resolution III/49 of 26 March 2026.
| Competition | 2026/27 total (PLN) | Per-club cap |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Liga (2nd tier) | 27,000,000 | Detailed split delegated to the PZPN General Secretariat and the Pierwsza Liga Piłkarska board |
| 2. Liga (3rd tier) | 4,500,000 | max. 250,000 |
| 3. Liga (4th tier, 4 groups, 72 clubs) | 1,440,000 | max. 20,000 |
| Ekstraliga Kobiet (women’s 1st tier) | 1,200,000 | max. 100,000 |
| 1. Liga Kobiet (women’s 2nd tier) | 240,000 | max. 20,000 |
Third-tier money is paid in two instalments — up to PLN 150,000 by 31 December 2026 and up to PLN 100,000 by 30 April 2027. The PZPN reserves the right to reduce or claw back payments where clubs fail to deliver marketing or broadcast obligations, including provision of a signal for the federation’s streaming platform.
The cliff edge in one number. PLN 27m across the whole second tier averages roughly PLN 1.5m per club, against a guaranteed PLN 8.06m for whoever finishes bottom of the Ekstraklasa. Promotion is a five- to sixfold increase in central income before a single performance bonus.
The caveat is that the Ekstraklasa is getting more expensive at the same time. Wage budgets, intra-league transfer fees and squad costs are all rising. Last season’s promoted clubs ended up with between PLN 9.1m and PLN 12.6m — a transformation relative to the second tier, but no advantage at all against established sides on PLN 13m to PLN 16m.
8. The 2027 tender
2026/27 is the last year of the Canal+ deal. The tender for the next cycle is expected to open in September 2026, with IMG appointed to advise — an agency with a track record on the international production and distribution side of the Premier League.
The commercial question is less “who buys” than “how many packages can be priced separately”: main live rights, free-to-air sub-licence, highlights, digital, near-live content, magazine shows, data rights and international distribution. The more discrete products the league can define, the better the odds of genuine competitive tension.
The difficulty is that the buyer universe is thin.
- Canal+ Polska is the incumbent, with production infrastructure, scheduling and a subscriber base built around the league. Polish football has clear retention value for it — which cuts both ways, since a natural buyer with no serious rival exerts little price pressure.
- Polsat already runs a substantial sports ecosystem and holds a broad football portfolio through Eleven Sports.
- TVN Warner Bros. Discovery has never been a heavyweight in Polish domestic football at this level.
- TVP offers reach but not investment capacity.
- An international streaming entrant would need to buy production, on-air talent, marketing and time to shift viewing habits — and Viaplay’s experience in Poland is a cautionary precedent.
For anyone modelling European broadcast revenues, this is the number to watch over the next six months. Whether PLN 300m becomes the new baseline or turns out to be the league’s commercial ceiling will be settled in this process — and it will determine whether the distribution model itself gets renegotiated alongside it.
9. Methodology: verified vs. modelled
We separate confirmed figures from our own calculations.
Verified (official league or federation sources, or consistent primary reporting):
- Total budget PLN 367.5m; model pot PLN 290m; PLN 4.1m bonus for the fifth European qualifier; c. PLN 3m in additional services; c. PLN 12.2m to the PZPN; c. PLN 7.25m for Młodzieżowiec 2.0; just under PLN 12m in barter value (Ekstraklasa S.A., July 2026).
- The 50 / 33.5 / 14 / 2.5 split and the 18.5 / 14 / 1 sub-allocation (league statutes since 2023/24, confirmed by Ekstraklasa S.A. for 2026/27).
- 2025/26 actuals: PLN 301.14m total; equal share PLN 8,222,700 per club and PLN 148m in aggregate; over PLN 103m for sporting performance; over PLN 41m for historic ranking; PLN 132.7m to the five European qualifiers, of which c. PLN 45.6m in direct bonuses.
- Canal+ contract term, value, sub-licence obligation and the payment schedule.
- PZPN Resolution III/49 of 26 March 2026 setting the lower-division and women’s league amounts.
Modelled (our calculation, flagged as such throughout):
- The position ladder. Reconstructed from a disclosed actual: a club finishing 14th in 2025/26 received PLN 1,658,888.89 for its final position. On an 18:1 linear weighting that implies PLN 331,777.78 per unit and a total pot of PLN 56.73m. That equals 18.5% of the PLN 296m calculation base plus the two unpaid solidarity shares belonging to the promoted clubs relegated straight back down — precisely the redistribution the statutes prescribe. The ladder reconciles to the złoty. For 2026/27 we have scaled it to the PLN 290m planning base.
- The European bonus tiering, derived from published 2025/26 sporting-performance figures net of the calculated position payment.
- All EUR and GBP conversions, at indicative rates of 4.25 and 4.90 PLN respectively.
Comparative figures used with caution:
- The Premier League top-to-bottom ratio of approximately 1.6:1 is drawn from the league’s published central payment tables for recent seasons and is used here only as an order-of-magnitude benchmark. Readers making precise comparisons should note that the two leagues define their distributable pots differently — the Ekstraklasa figure includes centrally sold sponsorship, and neither figure includes UEFA prize money.
Known limitations:
- The 2025/26 club table is incomplete (see the note in section 5).
- The final 2026/27 pot will most likely exceed PLN 290m. Every modelled figure here is therefore a lower bound, not a forecast of the final settlement.
- Whether the league revises the distribution formula alongside the new rights cycle from 2027/28 is an open question. A renegotiation running in parallel with the tender would be the obvious moment.
Sources
- Ekstraklasa S.A., 2026/27 budget approval (PLN 367.5m), July 2026 — ekstraklasa.org
- Ekstraklasa S.A., 2025/26 settlement (PLN 301.1m), 29 June 2026 — ekstraklasa.org
- Ekstraklasa S.A. / PZPN, distribution model in force since 2023/24, agreed June 2023
- PZPN, Board Resolution III/49 of 26 March 2026 on marketing and broadcast payments to 1st, 2nd and 3rd tier and women’s league clubs, 2026/27
- Wirtualnemedia and Press.pl, Canal+ Polska contract award, October 2022
- Weszło, Ekstraklasa S.A. club payments 2025/26, June 2026
- XYZ (Jakub Szlendak), analysis of the 2025/26 distribution, July 2026
- Grant Thornton, financial reports on the Ekstraklasa and Betclic 1 Liga
- Football Meets Data, estimated UEFA payments to Polish clubs 2025/26
- Club statements from Piast Gliwice, Widzew Łódź, Zagłębie Lubin and Korona Kielce on the 2025/26 settlement
FAQ
How much money does the Ekstraklasa distribute in 2026/27? Under the agreed model, PLN 290m (approximately €68m or £59m) goes to the 18 clubs, plus PLN 4.1m for the country’s fifth European qualifier and around PLN 3m in additional commercial services. The league company’s total budget is PLN 367.5m. Because the league budgets conservatively, the final settlement is likely to be higher — last season’s equivalent planning figure produced an eventual payout of PLN 301.1m.
How is Ekstraklasa TV money split between clubs? Four pillars: 50 per cent shared equally among all clubs, 33.5 per cent based on current-season sporting performance, 14 per cent on a weighted five-year historic ranking, and 2.5 per cent for the Młodzieżowiec 2.0 youth-minutes programme. The sporting pillar breaks down further into 18.5 per cent for final league position, 14 per cent for European qualification and 1 per cent as relegation solidarity.
What is the minimum an Ekstraklasa club receives? The guaranteed equal share is roughly PLN 8.06m per club, about €1.9m or £1.65m. In 2025/26 it rose to PLN 8,222,700 once the pot grew. For clubs in the bottom third this can represent up to 70 per cent of everything they receive from the league.
Who broadcasts the Ekstraklasa and when does the deal expire? Canal+ Polska holds exclusive domestic live rights until the end of 2026/27 under a four-season contract signed in October 2022 worth close to PLN 1.3bn. Canal+ must sub-licence one match per round to a free-to-air broadcaster, a role filled by TVP Sport. The tender for the cycle from 2027/28 is expected to open in September 2026, with IMG advising the league.
Why does the Polish champion earn so much more than a mid-table club? The decisive factor is European qualification rather than league position. That pillar is 14 per cent of the pot but goes to only five clubs. In 2025/26 the five European qualifiers took PLN 132.7m between them, around 44 per cent of the total distribution, and the gap between the highest and lowest earner was roughly PLN 27.7m — a spread of about 4:1, considerably wider than the Premier League’s.
Is the Betclic 1. Liga the same as the Ekstraklasa? No. The Ekstraklasa is Poland’s top division. The Betclic 1. Liga is the second tier and is marketed by the PZPN rather than the league company. Its clubs share PLN 27m in central marketing and broadcast money in 2026/27, averaging around PLN 1.5m each — roughly one fifth of what the bottom Ekstraklasa club is guaranteed.
When are the payments made? In four tranches: the first half of the equal share in July, the second half in October, the historic ranking settlement in January, and everything else within 14 days of the season ending.
