ZURICH: UEFA, the apex governing body of European football Friday released a comprehensive 118-page ‘The European Club Footballing Landscape’, the 10th edition of its annual club licensing benchmarking report.
As per the report, UEFA credits the introduction of the ‘Financial Fair Play’ (FFP) rule in 2011 for a record number of European football leagues, i.e. 28 of them reporting profits in 2017 as compared to a meagre 9 in the pre-FFP period.
Since 2008, the top 12 ‘global’ clubs’ share of European club sponsor and commercial revenues has almost doubled from 22% to 39% as they added €1.6 billion ($1.8 billion) in commercial and sponsorship revenues. In comparison, the other 700 European top-division clubs, from large, medium and small revenue leagues, were able to add less than €1 billion ($1.1 million). While the report notes the polarisation at the very top paused in 2017, with the 11th to 20th clubs enjoying more revenue growth than the top 10, it is an issue that UEFA continues to monitor closely.
Across ten European leagues, UEFA has confirmed that gambling and betting firms are now the most common source of shirt sponsorship. This remains a contentious issue with countries such as UK and USA mulling a ban on the same.
However, for the first time ever, the 700 clubs together generated a ‘bottom-line’ profit figure in the 2017 financial year of €615 million ($700 million) after transfer, non-operating, financing, tax and divestment. Their revenues have increased by 77% from €11.4 billion ($13 billion) in 2008 to €20.1 billion ($22.9 billion) in 2017.
For the fourth year out of the last five years, these numbers grew at a faster rate than club wages, with revenue at 8.9% and wages growing at 6.7%. Because of better wage control, clubs were able to report the highest operating profits in history of €1.4 billion ($1.6 billion) in 2017, fuelling the recent increased transfer spending.
Net debt continues to fall, from 65% of revenue before the introduction of FFP in 2011 to 40% in 2015, and down to 34% in 2017. With revenues from UEFA to clubs increasing by 228% in the last decade, prize money received in top flight competitions such as the Champions League and the Europa League has become more important as a source of revenue, especially in less wealthy leagues. There has been an overall growth in revenues of 77% and a growth in broadcast revenues of 113%.
Remarkably, coming to broadcast rights, only FC Barcelona, Juventus FC and Real Madrid CF received more TV money than the 20th Premier League club. This is considering the ongoing 2018-2022 TV rights cycle of the English competition, which stands at a value of $5.75 billion.
UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin said: “This report showcases the many successes of European football. It shows that the positive revenue, investment and profitability trends identified in last year’s report are continuing. The underlying health of European club football is highlighted, with the 700 top-division clubs together generating the first bottom-line profit in history. Is it therefore any wonder that interest in European football is radiating outwards across the globe as demonstrated by the many millions of social media activations and by the numerous club acquisitions from foreign investors.”
“Recent issues of this report have brought the challenges of polarisation and competitive balance into focus, illustrating how financial gaps are augmented by globalisation and technological change and it is therefore more essential than ever that all stakeholders work together to keep football strong up and down the pyramid. Football will never be equal, it doesn’t live in a bubble, but I truly believe it is UEFA’s role as guardians of the European game to ensure that football in every one of the 55 member associations can exploit its’ full potential and we will work to support this.”
