After the coronavirus-related slump in revenue, European football has largely returned to its old financial strength. At least that is the conclusion of the benchmarking report of the European Football Association (EUFA) on club licensing. “He is a real testament to the robustness and resilience of our sport,” UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin was quoted as saying. It is based on the financial analysis of more than 700 clubs and tables of key performance indicators for all 55 member associations.
“The worst-case scenarios involving mass bankruptcies and/or adverse effects from transfer payments along the entire football pyramid have so far been avoided due to the concerted efforts of competition organizers and continued investment by club owners,” reads the report. With the income increasing again, sustainable cost management and the recapitalization of the balance sheets are now “more important than ever to stabilize the club finances”.
“Interest as never before”
Clubs’ record investments and reported revenues for FY2022 “show unequivocally that interest in European football is at an all-time high”.
The past year is proof that European football is “gradually recovering from the serious consequences of the pandemic”. For example, revenue reported by early reporting clubs for fiscal year 2022 would be 4.1 percent higher than pre-pandemic 2019. Equity is also above 2016 levels.
Rising expenses
At the same time, however, expenditure would also increase again, for example the cost of salaries is now 16 percent higher than before the pandemic. “While these cost ratios have improved compared to fiscal 2021, they remain too unbalanced in some clubs.”
