Despite persistent declines in club revenues, according to UEFA’s annual Licensing Benchmarking Report, player wages grew across Europe in 2021.
UEFA‘s director of financial sustainability and research, Andrea Traverso, has called for a reform in the sport’s cost management, while president Aleksander Ceferin sees the study as demonstrating the sport’s strength, despite the losses incurred by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In response to the report, Ceferin said: “The COVID crisis has highlighted to what extent football is part of the fabric of European life.”
“Football was a true lifeline for many. I will make no bold predictions for the year ahead, except to say that, whether the pandemic stays or goes, European football will remain strong, stable, and united in 2022.”
European football has suffered a loss of seven billion euros due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Transformation has been Started
While some teams and leagues were able to restructure, many more continued to spend, with players’ contracts being extended. This illustrates why, despite the pandemic and a seven-billion-euro drop in income, incomes have continued to rise (5.8 billion pounds).
As a result, teams have been forced to borrow money from their owners or request it from external parties, putting them further into debt. The second method to defend football is to talk about the reserves that certain teams have built up over the last decade, which have attracted new investors.
In its existing iteration, financial regulation has resulted in healthier balance sheets, particularly when it comes to the combination of severe limitations on investment in owner shares and robust recurrent revenue growth, making club football a more viable investment offer.
European first-division teams’ net value increased from 1.9 billion euros (1.58 billion pounds) at the end of 2010 to 10.3 billion euros (8.57 billion pounds) at the start of the season. Many clubs would not have lasted if COVID-19 had come ten years ago.
Prices are increasing
The analysis reveals that clubs have lost seven billion euros (5.8 billion pounds) in the transfer market this year, limiting activity. Despite this, football continues to thrive, thanks in large part to the enthusiasm of fans and investors.
Some clubs and leagues have been able to restructure, but top-flight player pay has continued to climb and are expected to exceed 11.9 billion euros this year (9.9 billion pounds).
Wages took a total of 91 percent of income. The salaries of players (56 percent of income), net transfer costs (18 percent of income), and technical and administrative staff salaries (17 percent of income).
Despite the clubs’ efforts to spread out such payments throughout the contract, transfer costs have continued to climb. The majority of the losses were due to a decrease in ticket sales revenue (by 88 percent) in the 2020/21 season.
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