The Political Economy of Football V2

For a club that has won more La Liga and Champions League titles than any other team on the planet, the past two seasons have been disappointments for Real Madrid, which finished behind arch rival Barcelona in the Spanish league standings in back-to-back years and crashed out of European competition in the quarterfinals each time. Yet for all of the hand-wringing among the team’s exacting fans, business has never been better for Los Blancos. During the 2024-25 season, Real Madrid posted $1.27 billion in revenue, up 12% from its mark the year prior, already a record for a soccer club. In fact, the new figure just edges the Dallas Cowboys $1.23bn from the 2024 NFL season for the highest revenue total for a sports team ever measured by  Forbes  (without adjusting for inflation). So even with Real Madrid sitting out Saturday’s Champions League final—where Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain will battle for an extra $29 million in prize money—Los Blancos are the worl...

West Ham United’s relegation from football’s Premier League has reopened the debate about the legacy of London 2012, as ministers begin to look at whether the UK could host another Olympic Games in the 2040s. The east London club is set to pay less in rent for the stadium that was converted into a football venue after the 2012 Olympics when it starts in the English Championship next season, meaning less income for the public owners of the arena. The episode is the latest pitfall to face the London Stadium, which shone during the Olympics but has struggled to satisfy the public since. Athletes have complained that the stadium now hosts too little athletics, while football fans have criticised the distance between their seats and the pitch. The Hammers last week battled to avoid dropping into the second tier but North London side Tottenham Hotspur stayed up instead. Their tussle came 14 years after the two clubs vied to lease the Olympic Stadium, which hosted the 2012 Olympic and Par...

Arsenal supporters used to want “Kroenke out”. Those calls have died down now that the Gunners have won their first Premier League title in 22 years. Beating Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final later today would be a crowning moment for billionaire sports tycoon Stan Kroenke and son Josh. A lot has changed at Arsenal since the club lost to FC Barcelona in the 2006 Champions League final. That season, PSG finished ninth in the French league. These days, they’re a powerhouse. Now owned by state-backed Qatar Sports Investments, the defending champions of Europe have transformed into a winning machine and will be anything but a pushover for Arsenal.    Transformation is the word in Paris and north London. In 2005-06, Arsenal made a net profit of £7.9mn on revenues of £137mn. Its shares were still publicly traded. The club said goodbye to Highbury before moving to the 60,000-capacity Emirates Stadium. Arsène Wenger was still the manager. The women’s team was sti...

Arne Slot has been sacked as Liverpool’s head coach. A joint statement from Liverpool’s owners on Saturday confirmed the decision, saying it was “necessary” and “the team’s trajectory is best addressed through a change of direction”. “That this was a difficult decision for us to make as a club goes without saying,” it read. “The contribution Arne has made to Liverpool FC in the time that he has been with us has been significant, meaningful and — most importantly of all to supporters and ourselves — successful. “At the same time, we have collectively come to the conclusion that change is necessary in order for the club to keep moving forward. “As such, we can only wish Arne well in the next stage of his coaching career, with our expectation being that he will continue to be successful. We do so in the knowledge that his Liverpool legacy is intact and will become yet more meaningful in the years and decades to come. “Nevertheless, the conclusion we have come to is built on a be...

In UK politics Tony Blair has been insisting that everything is best left to the market with government following business friendly policies.   Football fan Andy Burnham insists that you can’t leave everything to the market. PSG are the most successful state project in football. That is worth remembering as they dazzle you on the pitch. Qatar Sports Investments bought PSG in 2011, the deal concluded just under a year after the tiny Gulf state of Qatar was named host nation for the 2022 World Cup. The semantics behind criticisms of their motivations may vary: sportswashing, soft power, geopolitical influence, an elaborate state marketing exercise. Whatever term you use, it all adds up to essentially the same thing: Qatar bought a famous but hitherto underachieving European football club, in a desirable location, in order to further the interests of Qatar. From a football perspective, it has worked spectacularly. PSG have won 12 of the past 14 French titles and last season...

Coventry City owner Doug King is profiled in FT Wealth, of itself something of an accolade.The 59-year-old calculates risk and reward for a living. Since graduating from Loughborough University in 1990 with a degree in mathematical engineering, he has traded everything from grain to petroleum.   The business model of the average Championship club, however, requires another kind of risk management. Wage bills that exceed revenues. Seemingly unavoidable operating losses. Fans who feel like they own the clubs. Owners who pick up the bill until they won’t, or can’t. When he bought Coventry, he assumed more than £36mn of net liabilities and cleared debts owed to the former owners. “I think that I bought [the club] because I felt like I could do a pretty good job of running it or handling it. I like sport, I understand business, I understand trading, so when you get into contracts with players and you’re looking at transfer agreements   .   .   .   contingencies, payment plans, he gi...