Juventus’ 2024/25 accounts cover a season when they finished fourth in Serie A, thus qualifying for the Champions League, but only thanks to an away win against Venezia on the last day of the season. Coming fourth was not too bad, but Juventus have struggled by their own lofty standards in the last five years, given that they had won the league no fewer than nine seasons in a row before that.
Juventus’ pre-tax loss significantly reduced from €196m to
€50m, as revenue rose €68m (18%) from €372m to €440m and profit from player
sales almost quadrupled from €23m to €90m. Although the substantial reduction
in the pre-tax loss is obviously good news, the fact is that Juventus still
lost €50m before tax, which is hardly small change. Looking at the latest published results,
which are a mixture of the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons, Juve’s loss was still
one of the worst in Serie A, only smaller than Roma €76m, Parma €64m and Monza
€54m.
In the three years up to 2023/24, the “Old Lady” lost a
massive €551m, compared to much smaller losses of €394m at Roma, €240m at Inter
and €34m at Milan, while Napoli actually made a profit of €143m. The last time that Juventus posted a profit
was back in 2016/17, so they have now lost money eight years in succession. In
that period, they have lost an incredible €944m before tax, including €826m in
the last five years alone.
The main driver for the revenue growth was a return to the
Champions League and participation in the FIFA Club World Cup, which led to a
big increase in broadcasting, up €77m (78%) from €100m to €177m. Ticket sales
also benefited from playing in Europe, rising €7m (13%) from €58m to €65m. On the other hand, commercial dropped €26m
(13%) from €203m to €177m, mainly due to the lack of a shirt sponsor.
One of the main reasons for Juventus’ lower loss was a big
increase in the profit from player sales from €23m to €90m, including Matias
Soulè to Roma, Dean Huijsen to Bournemouth, Federico Chiesa to Liverpool, Moise
Kean to Fiorentina and Kalo Jorge to Cruzeiro.
Based on the latest results, this was the highest profit from player sales
in Italy, ahead of Atalanta €71m, Napoli €71m, Inter €65m and Torino €58m.
Based on 2023/24 results, Juventus were 16th in the Deloitte
Money League, which ranks clubs globally by revenue. This was their lowest
placing on record, as they were even overtaken by Newcastle United. To underline the extent of their decline,
Juventus actually had the second highest revenue in the world back in 2002/03.
This was €85m more than the club ranked tenth, but in 2023/24 they were €177m
below 10th place, i.e. a swing of more than a quarter of a billion Euros.
As we have seen, Europe TV money is extremely important for
Juventus, especially as the new format has delivered a 20% uplift in central
distributions. Therefore, their return
to the Champions League last season was obviously good news, earning them €64m
(per the Swiss Ramble’s model) for reaching the knockout round, split between
participation payment €18.6m, prize money €14.4m and value pillar €31.4m.
Juve’s match day revenue lags behind almost all of the
European elite, e.g. in 2023/24 eight clubs generated more than €100m, led by
Real Madrid €248m, Paris Saint-Germain €170m, Arsenal €153m and Manchester
United €152m. Juve are miles below other
leading European clubs commercially, where four generated more than twice as
much income in 2023/24, namely Real Madrid €482m, Bayern Munich €421m,
Barcelona €421m and Manchester City €407m.
Wages
Juventus’ wage bill decreased for the fourth year in a row,
falling by €19m (7%) from €264m to €245m, their lowest since 2015/16. Wages for
players and technical staff were cut from €239m to €220m, while other staff was
slightly down from €25m to €24m. This
means that wages have been cut by a staggering €95m (28%) from the €340m peak
in 2020/21.
The steep decline in Juve’s wage bill helps explain why they
have found life more difficult on the pitch in recent years. Since 2018/19
their wages have dropped €83m, while all of their rivals have increased wages
in this time, with the exception of Napoli, and their decrease was much smaller
than Juventus. Despite this decrease,
Juve’s €245m wage bill remains the highest in Italy, though the gap to other
clubs has significantly reduced.
Juve’s wage bill is a lot less than some of their European
peers, with three clubs paying at least €200m more than them, namely PSG €659m,
Manchester City €480m and Real Madrid €469m. Another six clubs enjoyed an
advantage of more than €100m.
One of the root causes of Juve’s large losses is the amount
they have splashed out in the transfer market, which can be seen in a
comparison with other leading clubs. For
example, in the five years up to 2023/24, they had the seventh highest gross
spend in Europe with €907m, only comfortably surpassed by Chelsea.
Debt and funding
Juventus’ gross debt increased by €60m from €279m to €339m,
as bank loans rose €33m from €51m to €84m and the amounts owed to factoring
companies was up €30m from €215m to €245m.
Juventus have been very reliant on capital injections from
their owners and there is little sign of this stopping any time soon, as the
club has proposed another €110m increase, of which the shareholder Exor already
made a €30m down payment last season. This
is the fourth time that the club has had to go to the shareholders for cash in
the last six years, following €300m in 2019/20, €400m in 2021/22 and €200m in
2023/24, which means that the owners have provided a cool billion Euros in this
time.
In fairness, this is not unusual for leading Italian clubs,
though Juventus have needed more support from their owners than the others,
e.g. they received €889m in the six years up to 2023/24, compared to €647m at
Roma and €600m at Milan.
This set of financial results is still far from great, but
it marks a distinct improvement on the massive losses made in the last few
years, supported by the return to the Champions League (and participation in
the FIFA Club World Cup), allied with strong player sales.
Juventus are clearly making big efforts to lower costs, as evidenced by the steep reductions in both wages and player amortisation, but there is still a long way to go before they can get to break-even. Furthermore, they will still need some fancy footwork to comply with UEFA’s financial regulations, which is really important, as playing in Europe is vital to Juve’s business model.
More data and
information on the Swiss Ramble’s Substack platform published from Zurich.
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