Analysis of clubs with wage bills below €50 million: The best-performing segment financially, but far from profitable
Alamy | Club Brugge are an EBIT top performer
This analysis focuses on 142 European clubs reporting wage bills of under €50 million on average between 2018 and 2020.
European clubs with the highest wages-to-revenue ratios are predominately those in the low-wage bracket, but clubs in this bracket still manage to have better profitability numbers than those in the mid-high wage class.
Why it matters: Wages are the biggest expenditure for football clubs, and the continuously rising wage levels is a big risk as revenue has not increased equivalently in recent years.
The perspective: The analysis raises the big question – how can football become financially sustainable, if not, even a pandemic can rein player wages?
8 February 2022 - 12:39 PM
Last week UEFA released their annual benchmarking report on European football clubs, which shows some interesting insights of the wage development before and during the pandemic.
The report reveals that despite clubs being short of revenue due to the impact of the pandemic, player wages continue to rise across Europe’s top divisions and reached an all-time high of €11.9 billion in 2021.
Due to the lower revenues and higher wage levels, the average wages to revenue reached
Get smarter in minutes. Straight to your inbox
21-day free trial
Activate instantly with the link we’ll send you.
