Atletico Madrid have had their ups and downs since Diego Simeone took charge, but one thing has remained consistent – Champions League qualification.
Even in their bad years, he’s managed to guide them high enough in the table to get into Europe’s top competition, and the financial legacy of that has already changed the club forever.
Mundo Deportivo calculate that Atleti have taken in €740m from their participation in the Champions League in the last 11 years, and that’s not even counting the vast growth in terms of brand recognition and social media presence that has accompanied that.
It has created a virtuous circle whereby Simeone is given more budget to work with, and his relentless success has allowed his club to draw closer to Real Madrid and Barcelona, separating themselves financially from teams like Sevilla and Valencia who were more or less on a par with the Rojiblancos when the Argentine took charge.
