Chelsea squad will share £10m bonus pot for victory in Istanbul

Chelsea players will divide a bonus pot of £10million if they win the club’s second Champions League title this month.

The figure is laid out in a “player incentive scheme/schedule” which lists bonuses for each season. They would receive £5 million as a runners-up payout.

Ten per cent will be distributed among players sidelined by longterm injuries and to those who were mainly unused substitutes or in the match-day squad, but not on the bench.

The rest will be spread across the squad depending on how many appearances are made as a starter or substitute. This season, N’golo Kante has made 12 appearances in the competition, which is the most in the squad, while Edouard Mendy, Jorginho, Timo Werner and Kai Havertz have made 11.

Manchester City, their opponents in Istanbul on May 29, have a slightly different approach to bonuses. Many first-team players have them written into their contracts, rather than there being a pool to divide between the squad. Their top earners could land £1million each for winning the club’s first Champions League.

Leicester City’s squad, meanwhile, will land a minimum £10 million bonus if they secure a place in next season’s Champions League.

Brendan Rodgers’s players are fighting for a top-four finish and will share a substantial windfall should they succeed in their mission to return to Europe’s elite competition.

The bonus scheme was agreed before the start of the season and will be split among the squad if they qualify for the competition for the first time since 2016-17.

Leicester, in third place in the Premier League, host Newcastle United tonight. Rodgers said: “We’ve already beaten last season’s number of points, can we now finish the season strongly? Let’s see where it takes us. It’s a tough run of games.” Leicester v Newcastle 8pm, Sky Sports