Deloitte Football Money League Welcomes Four New Premier League Entrants
The 2022 Deloitte Football Money League (DFML) has welcomed four new Premier League entrants, This year’s edition marks a first ever appearance for Wolverhampton Wanderers while Aston Villa returns after a 10 year absence to the league topped by Manchester City.
The DFML profiles the financial performance of the highest revenue generating clubs in world football. This year’s edition covers the first season (2020/21) to be impacted by COVID-19 from start to finish.
The impact of COVID-19 on Money League clubs’ finances has been significant, although perhaps not always what many would expect. There is the typical association of COVID-19 with a negative financial impact, however, in some cases not all revenue streams shrunk in comparison to the previous season, with record aggregate broadcast revenue (€4.6bn) recorded.
But the outlook is not as positive as it may appear, with the hike in broadcast revenue in the 2020/21 season a result of the double-edged impact of broadcast deferrals rather than an increase in the values of rights deals. While a proportion of the 23% fall in broadcast receipts recorded in the 2019/20 season was lost revenue, the majority of it was simply delayed and subsequently received in the 2020/21 season.
Average revenue of Money League clubs was €409m in 2020/21, a marginal increase on the 2019/20 season thanks to broadcast deferrals, but a 12% decrease on the 2018/19 season due to the absence of fans on matchdays.
Showing robust financial health, Manchester City become only the fourth club to top the Money League with a 17% uplift in revenues over the previous year.
City top the table above Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus as the highest revenue generating clubs in each of Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues.
Despite the impressive growth recorded by some clubs, as predicted in last year’s edition of DFML, this year’s publication confirms that Money League clubs have missed out on well over €2bn of revenue over the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons as a result of COVID-19.
With the season played almost entirely behind closed doors matchday revenues plummeted to an all-time low of €111m, accounting for just 1% of Money League clubs’ total revenue in 2020/21.
Image: DFML
