Money goes to money

UEFA’s final distribution figures for club tournaments last season show that The Premier League had comfortably the highest TV money in total with €461m, a long way ahead of the Bundesliga €401m, followed by Serie A €393m. Possibly a surprise to some, La Liga were only fourth highest with €376m after a fairly ordinary season by its high standards, but they still earned nearly twice as much as Ligue 1 €201m. Portugal’s Primeira Liga earnings of €177m were higher than Ligue 1’s €153m.

While it was a relatively poor season for Spanish clubs on the pitch, their excellent record in Europe meant that they enjoyed the highest UEFA coefficient payment of €134m, well ahead of the Premier League €116m, the Bundesliga €103m and Serie A €91m.

Five clubs earned more than €100m in UEFA TV money last season, Champions League winners Manchester City €135m, followed by Real Madrid €119m, Bayern Munich €108m, PSG €101m and Inter €101m. There is then a big drop to Benfica €74m, Ajax €46m, Club Brugge €44m and Celtic €31m.

English clubs

Manchester United earned the most from the Europa League with €33m, even though they were eliminated in the quarter-finals, as they benefited from the large English TV pool. in the Europa Conference, where the winners, West Ham, earned the most with €22m, followed by losing finalists Fiorentina €17m.

The club with the best income for lowest receipts in the Europa League was again from England, as Arsenal earned €25m, even though they only reached the last 16.

All four of England’s clubs in the Champions League got to at least the last 16. Manchester City actually won the competition for the first time in the club’s history, so lead the way with €135m, which is also the best in Europe, followed by Chelsea, who earned €96m after making the quarter-finals. Despite being eliminated in the last 16, Liverpool and Tottenham received €84m and €66m respectively.

Even though English clubs did not exactly knock it out of the park in the Europa League, they were still among the highest earners. Manchester United (quarter-finals) received the most overall with €33m, while Arsenal (last 16) were third highest with €25m.

Real Madrid obviously earned the most in Spain after reaching the Champions League semi-final with €119m. This was considerably more than the other Spanish clubs, none of whom managed to get out of the group: Sevilla €77m, Barcelona €71m and Atletico Madrid €62m.

Bayern’s domiance

Even though Bayern Munich were knocked-out in the quarter-finals, they still earned more than €100m – €108m to be precise. Three other German clubs reached the last 16, but still received much less than Bayern, namely Borussia Dortmund €74m, RB Leipzig €58m and Eintracht Frankfurt €51m. Bayern’s financial dominance was partly due to their very high UEFA coefficient payment of €35m and the highest TV pool of €18m after yet again winning the Bundesliga the previous season.

Bayer Leverkusen only got €47m after failing to get out of the group stage, but added another €14m after dropping down to the Europa League, where they reached the semi-finals, to give them €61m in total.

Inter earned a hefty €101m after battling their way to the Champions League final, though the other clubs did not too badly, both on an off the pitch. The next highest was Milan €86m (semi-final), followed by Napoli €78m (quarter-final) and Juventus €66m (group stage). Juventus received an additional €10m after dropping down to the Europa League,

Even though PSG crashed out in the last 16, which was way below their aspirations, they still earned €101m from the Champions League, which was nearly twice as much as Marseille’s €52m. Like the rest of the football elite, PSG benefited from a high UEFA coefficient payment of €30m.

Celtic earned €31m from the Champions League, which was €10m more than Rangers’ €21m. The main difference was the UEFA coefficient payment, which was worth €9.1m to Celtic compared to just €2.3m for Rangers, though prize money was also €1.9m higher, as Rangers lost all six group games, so earned nothing here.

Threat of financial calamity removed from Baggies

West Bromwich Albion had effectively been in decline ever since the club was sold to a Chinese consortium in August 2016, paying a figure north of £200m to buy former owner Jeremy Peace’s stake. Controlling shareholder Guochuan Lai’s ownership was fairly disastrous for the club, but his unloved tenure finally came to an end after Bilkul Football WBA, a company ultimately owned by Florida-based entrepreneur Shilen Patel and his father Dr Kiran Patel, acquired an 87.8% shareholding in West Bromwich Albion Group Limited, the parent company of West Bromwich Albion Football Club. This change in ownership was urgently required, due to the numerous financial problems facing West Brom, including growing high-interest debt and serious cash flow concerns, following years of no investment from the former owner. Indeed, West Brom’s auditors had already rung the alarm bell in the 2021/22 accounts when they cast doubt on the club’s ability to continue as a going concern without making player s...

Fulham requires big funding from owner

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A poor financial record, but new hope at Everton

I recently saw an amusing video online in which a group of Everton fans were rebuked in jest for being hopeful. Football fans in general tend to swing between excessive optimism and excessive pessimism, but for many it seems that moaning is in their bloodstream (Spurs fans probably take the trophy). However, Everton fans have had plenty to moan about on and off the pitch. Let’s hope that a new era is about to begin for this grand old club. Everton’s 2023/24 financial results covered a fairly momentous season, when they ended up 15th in the Premier League, though they would finished three places higher if they had not received an 8-point deduction for breaching the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Regulations (PSR). It was a worrying time for Everton fans, as the club faced a “perfect storm” of issues, including large financial losses, an ever increasing debt burden, a challenging stadium build and the tortuous sale of the club. There were eve...

The Political Economy of Football V2

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