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Napoli is a well-run club

The authoritative Swiss Ramble examines Napoli's finances: https://swissramble.substack.com/p/napoli-finances-202122

Napoli reduced their pre-tax loss from €78m to €66m, despite revenue falling €14m (8%) from €179m to €165m and profit from player sales dropping €44m from €48m to just €4m, as operating expenses decreased by a hefty €71m (23%).  Loss after tax also narrowed from €59m to €52m.

Napoli’s €66m loss was one of the highest in the league, though it was less than half of Juventus €237m (restated after their accounting shenanigans), Roma €219m and Inter €137m. They were pretty much in line with Milan €60m.

tThe big five Italian clubs have lost a staggering €2.1bln between them in the last three seasons (€613m in 2019/20, €813m in 2020/21 and €717m in 2021/22).   In fairness to Napoli, their €130m loss over this period was by some distance the least bad, comfortably “beaten” by Roma €609m, Juventus €554m, Inter €488m and Milan €358m.

Napoli have now reported losses three years in a row, since the onset of the COVID pandemic, amounting to €163m before tax credits. This is in stark contrast to the preceding seven years, when they produced €178m of profits.  The club will expect to at least break-even this season, thanks to the return to the Champions League and some lucrative player sales in the summer.

Napoli have earned €193m from Europe in the last five years, which is not too shabby. They’re within spitting distance of Roma €201m and Inter €225m, though Juventus €419m is more than twice as much.   The difference in revenue from the Europa League and the far more lucrative Champions League is evident when looking at Napoli’s recent earnings, which were far higher in the four years between 2017 and 2020, when they qualified for Europe’s premier tournament.

Napoli have not had to rely on owner funding, unlike many other leading Italian clubs. In the last four years Juventus have received around €700m capital from their owners, while Milan and Roma have benefited from €545m and €360m respectively. Although Inter have not had any capital injections in this period, they have needed to take out substantial debt.

Even though Napoli’s balance sheet has suffered in the last three years, primarily due to the impact of the pandemic, this is fundamentally a well-run club. Their figures will look much better in 2022/23, thanks to the return to the Champions League and a couple of well-judged player sales last summer.

Unfortunately, the price they will probably have to pay for this success is the departure of some of their top talent to better funded clubs.

 


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