MUMBAI: La Liga heavyweights FC Barcelona continue to smash all records not just on the football ground but off it as well in the business side of sport. A recent study by financial consultancy firm KMPG titled ‘The European Champions Report 2019’ revealed that the Spanish club has spent 562 million euros ($640 million) solely in player salaries and other staff costs. The development has made Barcelona the first sports team in the world to breach the 500 million euros mark in this regard.
The costs have increased by 42% every year courtesy their retention of star players such as Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez as well as sealing new signings in the 2017-18 season such as Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool in the Premier League worth $188 million till 2023 and France’s Ousmane Dembélé from Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga for $174.6 million till 2022. Messi is said to be paid 203 million euros ($231.7 million) during the season.
Despite the heavy expenses, FC Barcelona have managed profits after tax worth $14.7 million courtesy their world record transfer of Brazilian forward Neymar Jr. to Ligue 1 heavyweights Paris Saint Germain (PSG) for 222 million euros ($253.4 million).
The development makes PSG come second to Barca in this regard, as its wages amounted to 332 million euros ($379 million) over the past year.
However, it is Manchester City which has the most expensive squad on aggregate amongst all clubs in the world, valued at a whopping 1.2 billion euros ($1.7 billion). Despite this, it has managed to reduce its splurge on transfers and wages by 5% each year, the lowest amongst all the eight clubs as it stood at 293 million euros ($334.3 million) in 2018.
Barca’s staff costs-operating revenue ratio was 81%, marking an increase by 19% as compared to 2017 and once again, the highest for all clubs. Portugal’s FC Porto came second with 80% while Germany’s Bayern Munich was the lowest at 51%.
KPMG analysed business aspects such as the finances and operations, social media analytics and player valuations of champion teams from all the top eight football leagues in Europe such as Barcelona (La Liga), PSG (Ligue 1), Manchester City (Premier League), FC Porto (Primiera Liga), Galatasaray (Super Lig), Juventus FC (Serie A), PSV Eindhoven (Eredivisie) and Bayern Munich (Bundesliga).
