DELOITTE’S ANNUAL REVIEW of Football Finance says that European football market grew 7% to €29.5 billion over the 2021/22 season, due to record matchday and commercial revenues.
The 32nd edition of the publication chronicles the 2021/22 season, as European football is set between the crossroads of some of the most pivotal regulatory changes that the game has ever seen, the report said.
Led by the ‘big five’ leagues, the improvement of financial performance across all European leagues resulted in a 7% growth in revenue terms of the European football market (albeit the previous year was impacted by the pandemic).
The ‘big five’ European leagues generated record aggregate revenues of €17.2 billion, outperforming the pre-pandemic benchmark of €17
billion set in 2018/19, driven by €815m growth in commercial revenues across that period.
The Premier League continued to entrench itself as the market leader, with growth in the English top-tier outpacing the rest of Europe’s ’big five’ leagues, as both matchday and commercial revenues reached an all-time high. The Premier League reported a 12% rise in overall revenues in the 2021/22 season, culminating in a record aggregate revenue of £5.5 billion.
As polarisation is a growing challenge, there are increasing calls to seek ways to promote strong competitions to help protect and build fan interest and value for clubs, leagues and governing bodies alike. And the introduction of new regulations across England and Europe are more appropriately timed than ever due to the challenge of emerging leagues, the report said.
A plethora of organisations around the world are now invested in the success of clubs and leagues both on and off the pitch and the result is that a balancing act is required as investors, owners and governments all seek success. Whatever that success looks like, it is critical to remember that financial sustainability will underpin arguably Europe’s largest cultural property.
In the 2021/22 season, the ‘big five’ European leagues generated record aggregate revenues of €17.2 billion, outperforming the pre-pandemic benchmark of €17 billion in 2018/19, driven by €815m growth in commercial revenues across that period.
Highlights
The European football market grew revenues by 7% in 2021/22 to €29.5bn with the full return of fans to stadia;
The ‘big five’ European leagues grew by 10% to €17.2bn, outperforming the pre-pandemic benchmark of €17bn in 2018/19;
Wage costs across the ‘big five’ rose by 15% from 2018/19 to €12.3bn in 2021/22, causing aggregate operating profits to decline by €1.8bn since 2018/19 to a loss of €324m in the 2021/22 season;
Revenue growth in the Premier League continued to outpace that of the ‘big five’ leagues, with clubs reporting a 12% rise in overall revenues in the 2021/22 season, to a record aggregate revenue of £5.5bn;
Premier League clubs’ operating profits (excluding player trading) totalled £459m in 2021/22, down £1m on the previous season;
Championship clubs’ wage costs exceeded revenues for the fifth-consecutive year, with a wages/revenue ratio of 108%.
