Clubs spent 76% of investment on transfers in 2012

European first division clubs' cash reserves decreased by €107m (down 8.5%) from 2011 (€1.264bn) to 2012 (€1.157bn), but they were generally positive, according to the Sixth Club Licensing Benchmarking Report, published by UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) on 17/04/2014.

The European body analysed the cash flows of 581 of the 696 clubs in European first divisions. It found that 52% of selected clubs increased their cash reserves during the 2012 financial year, and that 88% of them had positive cash reserves at the end of the year.

However, when results of European clubs are aggregated, losses totalled € 1.066bn in 2012, and 17 of the 53 first divisions had cumulative club loss margins of more than 20%. But all the European top divisions generated a cumulative cash surplus or a cash deficit equivalent to less than 10% of revenue.

In 2012, investment by clubs in their infrastructure (€556m) represented less than 14% of cash outflows related to their investment activities, which amounted to €4bn. Nearly 76% of this amount was spent on transfer expenditures (€3.032bn).

UEFA…