English clubs’ financial power detailed in UEFA review
GENEVA (AP): THE FINANCIAL power of English football was detailed in a UEFA report yesterday analysing the record 24 billion euros (US$25.75 billion) economy of top-tier clubs across Europe.
The 20 Premier League clubs’ total revenue of 6.5 billion euros (US$7 billion) in 2022 was almost equal to the next two richest leagues combined – Spain’s La Liga and Germany’s 18-team Bundesliga each had about 3.3 billion euros (US$3.54 billion).
Those 20 Premier League clubs combined had as much revenue as all 642 clubs in the 50 countries outside the big five leagues of England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France, UEFA said.
Closing the gap on English clubs’ spending power had been cited in 2021 as a reason why clubs in Spain and Italy pushed hardest for the breakaway Super League project that failed.
UEFA’s annual review of club finances suggested the industry has recovered from “lingering pandemic impacts” of the COVID19 outbreak that shut down European football in 2020.
It predicted total revenue topping 26 billion euros (US$27.9 billion) in the 2023 financial year fuelled by broadcast deals, commercial sponsorships and ticket sales.
The top 20 revenue-earning clubs are set to get almost half that income in European football and about half of those clubs are likely to be English.
English clubs also accounted for 764 million euros (US$820 million) of the collective pre-tax losses of 3.2 billion euros ($3.43 billion) by European clubs in 2022.
Still, UEFA said it saw positive signs from the first financial reports posted by clubs in 2023 with wage inflation slowing.
RICHEST CLUBS
Clubs with most revenue were the two Spanish giants and two state-backed clubs.
Real Madrid led with 841 million euros (US$902 million); Abu Dhabibacked Manchester City, the Champions League winner, had 836 million euros (US$897 million); Barcelona was on 815 million euros (US$874 million); Qatar-backed Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) had 807 million euros (US$866 million).
PSG was the most expensive team to watch, according to UEFA. The average matchday spend by fans on tickets and hospitality prices was 140 euros (US$150). Only Juventus and Tottenham also had fans paying average matchday prices above 100 euros ($107).
ENGLAND DOMINATES
Nine of the top-20 earning clubs in Europe by revenue were English, including Brighton which had income of 264 million euros (US$283 million). That was just 13 million euros (US$14 million) less than Serie A champions Napoli.
The 20 English clubs collectively ranked No. 1 in Europe for most revenue, most domestic broadcast rights sales, most UEFA prize money from European competitions and most matchday ticket revenue. Spain ranked second in most metrics.
The average revenue of a Premier League club – 323 million euros ($347 million) – was almost 10 times more than the average club in the seventh-richest league,