The Political Economy of Football V2

The works team was once a common feature of football in the UK, particularly at the non-league level, including my non-league club Lockheed then AP Leamington and still referred to as the Brakes. My father as a non-league footballer thought that works clubs were particularly difficult to play against given that their players were given cushy jobs in the factory and plenty of time off to train. As implied by the club’s name, Philips Sport Vereniging (Philips Sports Union), the electronics giant Philips has close ties with PSV Eindhoven.   Indeed, the club started out in 1913 as a works team for employees of the conglomerate. It has extended its sponsorship of the club to 2031, covering stadium naming rights and participation in an innovative cooperation with four other Dutch companies under the Brainport Eindhoven name, which features on the front of the shirt. The Swiss Ramble has undertaken his usual forensic analysis of the club’s accounts; much more detail is available on ...

Barcelona have started the process of withdrawing from the European Super League (ESL), leaving Real Madrid as the only founding member in the project. Of the 12 founding ESL members, nine pulled out swiftly following its launch. Another, Juventus, said in 2023 that they had withdrawn from the proposal, leaving just Barca and Madrid attached to the project. In January 2023, the Catalan club’s president, Joan Laporta, said he remained convinced a new European League to initially compete with England’s Premier League would still be launched. The 20-team, closed-shop ESL was initially launched in April 2021, but fell apart following a substantial backlash from supporters. Six English Premier League clubs — Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur — all immediately withdrew, along with Spanish side Atletico Madrid and both Milan and Inter of Serie A. The changes in the Champions League format along with that of the Club World C...

The financial troubles at fan owned Exeter City continue:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c3ede8g785zo The club has a good record of developing players in its Academy and selling them on, but there are obvious risks in a financial model based on player sales.   Of course, many big clubs are also very reliant on player sales, but they also have other substantial revenue streams they can draw on. I have always been sceptical about the financial viability of fan ownership - AFC Wimbledon are in an affluent part of a global city and even they have been looking for outside investors. You either need a benefactor (e.g.., Brighton) or a private equity company willing to take risks to make a capital gain. Consider this announcement made today which confirms the interest of finance capital in sports teams.  Arctos Partners has been one of the most prolific purchasers of sports assets including a minority stake in Liverpool FC. Today the private equity firm KK...

 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 ...