Record result for European soccer clubs with 1st-time profit

GENEVA (AP) — In a record result for European soccer, top-tier clubs combined to make a first-time profit of 600 million euros ($694 million) last year with spending on player transfers included.

UEFA research — involving 711 clubs’ financial accounts ending in 2017 — showed they turned around a 300-million euro loss ($347 million) the previous year, European soccer’s governing body said Sunday.

The clubs’ total revenue of 20.1 billion euros ($23.2 billion) extended a trend of annual rises at around 10 percent.

UEFA said 27 of 54 top-tier divisions in its member countries were profitable. That’s up from eight in 2011 when UEFA began monitoring accounts of all clubs qualifying to enter the Champions League and Europa League.

“Thanks to Financial Fair Play, European football is healthier than ever before,” UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin said in a statement.

“Financial Fair Play has provided the platform for clubs to control their costs and pay their debts,” Ceferin said. “This success, this new stability is a result of the work done by UEFA and its member associations in introducing licensing systems including cost control mechanisms which have yielded much improved financial discipline.”

The combined profit was made despite many millions of dollars leaving the European soccer system as clubs bought players from outside the continent.

UEFA said the operating profit of all clubs — before player transfers and financing were taken into account — was a collective 1.4 billion euros ($1.62 billion).

Booming values of broadcasting rights have largely driven the rising revenues, including deals made around the world for the Champions League and the popularity of the English Premier League and Spain’s La Liga.

For the next three years, UEFA will pay 30 percent increased prize money in its two club competitions. The 32 Champions League teams this season will share 1.95 billion euros ($2.25 billion) from UEFA.