"The success story that is European football is apparent from the facts contained over the next 120 or so pages. Few, in any, activities come close to matching the continuous 10% year-on-year growth in revenues that European club football has generated since the turn of the century," stated UEFA in the introduction of its ninth Club Licensing Benchmarking Report in Europe, published on 17/01/2018.

"For the first time, club investments in stadiums and other long-term fixed assets exceeded €1bn in 2016. It is therefore perhaps not surprising that an increasing number of national associations and leagues, both inside and outside Europe,are starting to implement their own versions of financial fair play," said Aleksander Čeferin, UEFA president, in the foreword of this annual business panorama report of European football clubs.