Elite clubs the driving force behind European football’s riches

England’s Premier League accounted for €2.9 billion of the €9.8 billion cumulative revenue of the “big five” European leagues in 2012-2013. Liverpool's Steven Gerrard, centre, celebrates with team mates Jon Flanigan, left, and Mamadou Sakho after winning a match. Peter Powell / EPAShow less

European football’s earning power is dominated by the commercial success of elite clubs like Bayern Munich and Manchester United, who contributed almost all of the growth in revenues last season, according to a new report.

The Deloitte Sports Business Group’s annual review of football finance showed that in 2012-13, the cumulative revenue of the “big five” European leagues grew 5 per cent to €9.8 billion (Dh49bn), representing half of the overall size of the European football market of €19.9bn.

England’s Premier League accounted for €2.9bn, rising 1 per cent with Germany and Spain experiencing 8 per cent and 4 per cent growth respectively, taking them each to the €2bn mark.

However, England had a far higher ratio of wages to total revenue at 71 per cent, as player salaries rose 2 per cent to €2.1bn. In contrast Spain and Germany’s wages were a little above the recommended 50 per cent mark, at €1bn.

The outlook for Europe’s top leagues is robust, Deloitte says, with combined revenue of more than €11.5bn expected in 2014-2015. In England, Deloitte forecasts revenue from all 92 top clubs combined at above £4bn (Dh24.62bn) for next season – £3.3bn of that from the Premier League.

The main trend across Europe was that a handful of clubs in each league were responsible for growth in revenue for the period. In Italy, for example, Juventus accounted for more than three-quarters of Serie A’s €97 million increase. In France, champions Paris Saint-Germain, owned by Qatar, brought in all of Ligue 1’s added earnings for the second year running. In Germany, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund brought in 80 per cent of the Bundesliga’s €146m rise.

European football’s governing body Uefa has recently introduced its Financial Fair Play regulations ,which has actively encouraged investment in youth development including training facilities and academy infrastructure.

“The £125m increase in Premier League wages was not as significant an increase as anticipated, demonstrating that restraint is being shown at some clubs. We expect 2013-14 to see another rise in wages as the first payments of the new broadcast deal flow through, but this may be tempered to an extent by the new financial regulations,” the report said.

In the 2012-13 season there was the highest level of capital investment by England’s top 92 clubs since 2006 £211m, which is expected to rise to £1bn over the next five years. Total capital investment since 1993 when the Premier League began has been 3.5 billion pounds, according to Deloitte.

“English football continues to make an extraordinary contribution to life in the UK in terms of economic impact, investment in facilities and community activities, not to mention non-financial benefits such as its diversity, popularity, social contribution and unique global reach,” Deloitte said.

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