The £3m Prize Fund of the 2028 European Athletics Championships: A Test of Squad Depth

The European Athletics Championships in Silesia, Poland will introduce a record prize fund of about £3 million (€3.5 million) for the 2028 edition. The money will be distributed to the top eight finishers across all 50 events, replacing the previous 'Gold Crown' model that paid €50,000 to ten athletes with the highest scoring performances. The new structure pays €30,000 for gold, €15,000 for silver, €10,000 for bronze, and down to €1,000 for eighth place. This shift rewards depth and consistency rather than one-off breakthroughs. Nations with strong squads like Great Britain & Northern Ireland, Poland, Germany, and Italy are likely to benefit most. GB & NI won 19 medals at Birmingham 2026 but none of their nine golds earned the old bonus, illustrating how the new model favours broad-based success. However, the fund only covers top-eight finishers; ninth place earns nothing, raising concerns about a widening gap between elite and grassroots athletes. The announcement also reflects a broader prize-money escalation in athletics, as World Athletics prepares a $10m Ultimate Championship in Budapest. This analysis examines the structural impact, the risks, and the lessons for Vietnamese athletics, where only a handful of athletes such as Nguyễn Thị Oanh, Quách Thị Lan, and Nguyễn Văn Lai compete at continental level. The key takeaway: sustainable investment in systems matters more than any single star performance.