The Political Economy of Football V2

 The authoritative Swiss Ramble reviews the finances of Benfica which posted a €37m pre-tax profit iin 2024/25, which reflected “a robust economic and financial situation”.  This represented “a complete reversal of the 2023/24 financial year”, when they lost €31m, so their bottom line improved by €68m.  Revenue shot up by €54m (31%) from €177m to a club record €231m, while profit on player sales improved €31m (52%) from €58m to €89m. Benfica’s revenue growth was largely driven by the performances in the Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup, which led to broadcasting rising by €47m (46%) from €101m to €148m. Importance of player sales As always, Benfica’s financials greatly benefited from player trading with a hefty €89m profit from player sales, made up of a €117m gain less €28m expenses.   The largest profit came from the sale of Joao Neves to Paris Saint-Germain, which generated a profit of €60m, while other important transfers included Marcos Leonardo to...

If Leicester’s dramatic rise under the ownership of the Srivaddhanaprabha family and their King Power business empire was meteoric, their decline over the past three and a half years is proving to be equally astonishing. These days, they are a club facing up to the possibility of sliding into third-tier League One for only the second time in their 142-year history. So how did it come to this? When Leicester were relegated from the Premier League for the second time in three seasons last summer, there was some belief that they would repeat the feat of two years ago and bounce straight back up into it. But for those who knew the true state of the club, after several seasons of posting crippling financial losses that had pushed them to the PSR edge, and the extent of rebuilding required, expectations were rather more tempered. They knew, also, what was potentially coming down the line in terms of sanctions for three charges of breaking the EFL’s PSR rules for that promotion season...

One hundred and two days after Chansiri departed, Sheffield Wednesday are still in administration and serious questions are being asked about the conduct of the chief administrator, Kris Wigfield, and the suitability of the consortium chosen to take over, which features the former professional gambler James Bord. A fire sale of players, including the popular captain, Barry Bannan, plus a run of 25 matches without victory has further demoralised fans, many of whom have stopped attending games. The administrators believed that they could get more than £30 million for Wednesday, which caused many prospective buyers who valued the club at around £20mt to back out, but Bord’s bid — believed to be worth about £32.5 million — blew everyone else out of the water and crucially, it was high enough to pay off the club’s creditors (namely Chansiri, who is set to receive £15 million from the sale if it goes through) and guarantee that the team will not start next season on minus-15 points. That is ...

From his Zurich base the authoritative Swiss Ramble reviews how clubs have done so far in this season’s Uefa competitions.   Much more detail about clubs and calculations can be found on his Substack page. Eight of the top ten in money terms also featured in the top ten of the Deloitte Money League, while another one (Inter) was 11th in the so-called “Rich List”.   The only club that spoiled the strong correlation between money and success on the downside was Manchester United, which highlights the extent of the mismanagement at Old Trafford. His calculations suggest that five clubs have already received more than €90m from the Champions League, namely Bayern Munich €100m, Manchester City €97m, Liverpool €97m, Arsenal €96m and Chelsea €92m.   They are closely followed by Barcelona €89m, Tottenham €84m, Paris Saint-Germain €82m and Real Madrid €81m. Revenue available for distribution in the Europa League is less than a quarter of the Champions League, which has ...

The financial dominance of the Premier League was underscored by the latest Global Transfer Report from Fifa, as the latest window to sign new players slams shut on Monday. English clubs spent $3.82bn in the international transfer market last year, more than the $3.43bn total for the next three leading spenders (Germany, Italy and France) combined. The figure for English teams, up from $1.88bn in 2024, accounted for about 30 per cent of the record $13.08bn spent on international transfer fees across the men’s game in 2025. Spending on international transfers also hit a record high last year in women’s football. The two biggest cross-border deals both involved Premier League holders Liverpool, who brought in midfielder Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt forward Hugo Ekitike. The report does not include domestic deals, such as the British-record £125mn the Anfield club spent on striker Alexander Isak, signed from Premier League side Newcastle United. That...

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer presented his  Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping with a Premier League match ball flown 5,000 miles from London. Tthe UK Prime Minister arrived in Beijing armed with one of the yellow Puma match balls used in Sunday’s Premier League fixture between Arsenal and Manchester United, a game he had attended at the Emirates Stadium.    It wassigned by a number of United pl;ayers. It was reportedly presented to Xi ahead of a formal summit and lunch in the Great Hall of the People, with China’s president widely known to be a Manchester United supporter.  Xi’s affection for Manchester United may have been reasonably well known, but more surprising was the revelation   that he told Starmer he also has a fondness for Arsenal, Manchester City and Crystal Palace. Xi’s last trip to Manchester saw him given a tour of the Etihad Campus by City’s chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, who has subsequently become a special envoy to China on...