Record for European soccer clubs with a first-time profit

GENEVA — In a record result for European soccer, top-tier clubs combined to make a first-time profit of $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 $347 million loss the previous year, European soccer’s governing body said yesterday.

The clubs’ total revenue of $23.2 billion extended a trend of annual rises at about 10 percent.

UEFA said 27 of 54 toptier 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 $1.62 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.

UEFA noted that 18 of 20 Premier League clubs were profitable for their financial year ending June 2017, with $737 million total increase in revenue from television.

Though perceived as a high-salary league, UEFA said the English top division had wages under tighter control. Clubs paid players 56 percent of their total revenue in 2017 compared to 71 percent four years earlier.