Barcelona will have to pay Championship side £10m fee if they win the UEFA Champions League 

Barcelona are expected to pay English club Leeds United a £10m fee should Raphinha help them win the UEFA Champions League. Raphinha joined Barcelona from Leeds in 2022 for a reported fee of €58 million.

The winger initially struggled to break into the team’s starting XI, but has flipped the narrative this season, as he is a strong contender for the 2025 Ballon d’Or. With Hansi Flick at the helm, it’s starting to look like Barcelona could win the Champions League this season. They already have one leg in the semifinal after thrashing Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund 4-0 at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on Wednesday (April 9).

According to TEAMtalk, one of the clauses in Raphinha’s contract is tied directly to the Champions League. It says if Barcelona win the tournament this season, they will have to pay £10 million (€12.5 million) to Leeds, who are currently in the EFL Championship.

While Barcelona are at their A game in the ongoing season, Raphinha is one of the players who have stood out for the Catalan club. The Brazilian winger has the most goal contributions in the 2024-25 Champions League, with 12 goals and seven assists.

Across competitions, Raphinha has scored 28 goals and provided 22 assists in 45 games. Should Barca get past Dortmund in the quarterfinals, they will face the winners of the tie between Bayern Munich and Inter Milan in the semis.

“That’s the most important thing for me’’ – Barcelona star Raphinha on winning the Ballon d’Or

Raphinha has played down speculations of wanting to win the 2025 Ballon d’Or, insisting that he is not thinking about winning the individual prize.

After the match against Dortmund, Thierry Henry praised Raphinha while interviewing him on CBS Sport. Henry opined that the former Leeds man is a leading candidate for the Ballon d’Or, should he continue with his current form.

The former French forward said (via TEAMtalk):

“What we saw with Leeds, the Ballon d’Or should be very much a potential prize if you continue playing the way you are.’’

Raphinha thanked Henry and claimed that the ''most important thing'' for him was to win titles for La Blaugrana.

“Thank you very much for your words… You have been speaking about me all this time, you are a person I appreciate greatly since I was little. My head is not thinking about the Ballon d’Or. I want to win everything I can for Barcelona," he said.

“That’s the most-important thing for me. The goals that I have are to win titles and with titles, individual prizes will come. But the most-important thing for me is to win prizes with this shirt, which is my dream," Raphinha added.

Raphinha is leading the race in the latest Ballon d’Or rankings.