A record figure of 26 European leagues made profits in 2016 (cumulative total of the profits of all clubs in the league), versus only nine in 2011, before the introduction of financial fair play, said UEFAUnion of European Football Associations
in its ninth Club Licensing Benchmarking Report on football clubs in Europe (2016 financial year), published on 17/01/2018.
"Net debt continues to fall, from 65% of revenue before the introduction of financial fair play in 2011 to 40% in 2015 and down to 35% in 2016. Conversely, club net assets have doubled during this period," said UEFA.
"This detailed report shows that the positive revenue, investment and profitability trends identified in last year’s report are continuing," added UEFA.
"Clubs are generating revenue but they are also investing in assets and infrastructure, thanks in a part to UEFA’s Financial Fair Play Regulations," said Aleksander Ceferin, UEFA president, in the introduction to this report (see download link).
A panorama of European club football in 20 points
1 - "The 700 top-division clubs together are generating year-on-year revenue growth of almost 10%. You need to go back to 2002 to find a faster rate of growth in European club revenues.
2 - In recent years (2010 to 2016), European club football has become less reliant on donations/grants and other one-off revenues (down 12%), with gate receipts up 7%, sponsorship and commercial revenue up 59%, TV revenue up 64%, transfer income up 105%, and UEFA prize money and solidarity payments up 106%.
3 - Despite wages growing at the fastest rate since 2010, clubs reported the highest operating profits (before transfers) in history of more than €800m in 2016.
4 - Bottom-line losses after transfers, financing and tax decreased to €269m in 2016 - this is less than one-sixth of the club losses recorded prior to the introduction of Financial Fair Play.
5 - A record 26 leagues generated profits in 2016 (as an aggregate of the clubs’ results in each league) - this could be said of just 9 leagues in 2011, prior to the introduction of Financial Fair Play.
6 - Net debt continues to fall, from 65% of revenue before the introduction of financial fair play in 2011 to 40% in 2015 and down to 35% in 2016. Conversely, club net assets have doubled during this period.
TV deals in the 'big 6' leagues generating 11 times the revenue of those in the other 48
7 - The wide disparity in TV revenues continues to be the main differentiating factor between leagues, with TV deals in the 'big 6' leagues generating 11 times the revenue of those in the other 48.
8 - The distribution models applied by leagues differ, as reflected in how the money is shared between clubs. All major leagues have part of their distributions connected to league performance but then the basis for distribution varies considerably. Portugal is now the only major league where clubs sell their rights individually and this is reflected in the huge gap between the TV rights of the top three sides and the rest. The high club to median club ratio is above 14 there, compared with an average high to median ratio of 2.3. The Spanish (4.1x) and Italian (3.3x) TV revenue is much less evenly spread among clubs than the French (2.4x) and German (2.3x), which reflects the relatively recent move to collective selling in those countries, where the benefits of greater overall revenues from collective selling tend to be distributed across clubs but with the largest clubs more or less earning the same as before.
9 - Clubs’ ability to leverage their brands is the single most important differentiating factor between the top dozen clubs and the rest. Looking back across the last two business cycles (2010 to 2016), the 12 largest and most global clubs have generated an extraordinary €1.58bn increase in income from their sponsorship deals and commercial activities. This compares with increases of just €700m for the rest of Europe’s top-division clubs combined.
10 - The top 12 clubs, have also benefited significantly from the uplifted domestic and UEFA TV deals. Nonetheless, such has been their ability to increasingly leverage their international profile as global brands that more than half (55%) of their medium-term revenue growth has come directly from increased club sponsorship and commercial partnerships. By contrast, half of all medium-term revenue growth for clubs outside the big six TV markets has come from the increased UEFA club competition distributions, whether prize money (group stage participation) or solidarity payments. Domestic TV revenue growth has contributed 20% and sponsorship 30% of their overall revenue growth.
Since 2016, more than 70% of all foreign takeovers in the 'top 15' leagues have involved Chinese investors
11 - Across the 'top 15' European leagues, there have been 40 clubs taken over by foreign investors since 2010, with China the most active in the last two seasons. Since 2016, more than 70% of all foreign takeovers in the 'top 15' leagues have involved Chinese investors. In this period, Chinese owners have taken over clubs in the English Premier League and Championship, Italy’s Serie A, France’s Ligue 1, Spain’s La Liga and the Netherland’s Eredivisie.
12 - The English Premier League (65%) and Championship (58%) continue to top the list in terms of foreign club ownership (Ligue 1 third, 20%).
13 - Despite the increasing global attractiveness of European club football, the majority of clubs in the 16 major leagues analysed remain local not global brands. This is reflected in the primary shirt sponsorship deals, with 64% of shirt sponsors based in the same country as the club they sponsor. With 12% of clubs not having a shirt sponsor, this means only 24% of clubs have international shirt sponsors. Clubs in Austria, Greece, the Netherlands and Russia have only brands of domestic origin as shirt sponsors.
14 - Whereas kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors (main sponsors) have been a part of the sponsorship landscape for a long time in European club football, stadium naming rights and sleeve sponsors are less prevalent. Although sleeve sponsorship is common practice in 12 of the 16 analysed leagues, it is only used by just over half (56%) of the analysed clubs, as a number of leagues currently have no sleeve sponsorship. Stadium naming rights are even more concentrated (26% of clubs). For the 2017/18 season only three leagues (Germany, Netherlands and Austria) had a majority of club stadiums with naming rights.
Summer 2017 featured 6 of the top 20 transfer fees of all time
15 - Summer 2017 featured 6 of the top 20 transfer fees of all time and ten reported transfers of €50m+. Clubs spent 25% of their overall summer 2017 transfer spending after their domestic season started. Portugal has the longest period between the start of the season and the day the transfer window closes (47days). By contrast, Serie A clubs had just 12 days over lap in 2017/18.
16 - The total European spending during the summer 2017 transfer window reached a record high of €5.6bn. Clubs spent almost €1bn in the January transfer window, which suggests a total 2017/18 spend of €6bn to €7bn.
17 - The summer window spending was equivalent to 28% of the projected total club revenue for the 2017 financial year, setting another new benchmark as this is 6% higher than the highest value in the last ten years.
Of the 96 major transfers of €15m+ in summer 2017, only 4 players went to clubs in leagues outside the big five
18 - 80% of global transfer spending during the summer window (63% in 2010) was in the big five European leagues (ENG, ITA, FRA, ESP, and GER). Of the 96 major transfers of €15m+ in summer 2017, only 4 players went to clubs in leagues outside the big five (3x Zenit and 1x Porto).
20 - Across some 2,000 transfers reviewed between 2014 and 2017, agents' fees averaged 12.6% of the transfer fee - a significant cost for clubs. Lower-value transfers of less than €100,000 are subject to the highest agents’ commissions, with a mid rate of 40%. If the threshold is increased to between €1 and €1m, then the mid rate agent commission is still 20% (9% for transfer contracts of more than €5m)."
UEFA, on 17/01/2018
UEFA
UEFA: Union of European Football Associations
• Founded: 15/06/1954
• Headquarters: Nyon (Switzerland)
• Member Associations: 55 • Turnover 2022-23: €4,320.8m
- media rights: €3,595m (83.2%)
- commercial rights: €601.1m (13.9%)
- ticketing and hospitality: €78.9m (1.8%)
- other revenue: €45.8m (1.1%) • Operating profit 2022-23 : €199.3m before solidarity payments. • Solidarity payments 2022-23: €314.9m • Financial income & taxes: €28.5m • Net result 2022-23:-€87.1m
Composition of the UEFA Executive Committee:
• President: Aleksander Ceferin (Slovenia), elected on 14/09/2016, re-elected on 07/02/2019 and on 05/04/2023
• First Vice-president: Karl-Erik Nilsson (Sweden)
• Vice-presidents: Zbigniew Boniek (Poland), Gabriele Gravina (Italy) and Laura McAllister (Wales) and Armand Duka (Albania)
Treasurer: David Gill (England)
• Members: Hans-Joachim Watzke (Germany), Jesper Møller Christensen (Denmark), Andrii Pavelko (Ukraine), Davor Suker (Croatia), Just Spee (Netherlands), Servet Yardımcı (Turkey), Petr Fousek (Czech Republic), Levan Kobiashvili (Georgia), Philippe Diallo (France), Nasser Al-Khelaïfi (ECA), Miguel Ángel Gil Marín (ECA), Pedro Proença (European Leagues)
• Honorary president: Lennart Johansson (Sweden) passed away on 04/06/2019
• Secretary General: Theodore Theodoridis (Greece, acting secretary general from 04/03/2015, confirmed into the position on 15/09/2016)
• Deputy Secretary General: Giorgio Marchetti (Italy, announced on 09/12/2016)
Union of European Football Associations
in its ninth Club Licensing Benchmarking Report on football clubs in Europe (2016 financial year), published on 17/01/2018. 
