UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, suffered a drop in revenue of almost €2 billion ($2.11 billion) for the 2021-22 season after setting a record mark in the previous year.

Total revenue for the financial year stood at €4.05 billion ($4.3 billion), down from €5.7 billion in 2020-21.

The accounts from the prior season were notably boosted by the delayed European Championship being held in 2021.

Despite the revenue decrease, UEFA still recorded its second-best financial year since 2016-17.

Last year’s accounts marked the first time that non-Euros revenue exceeded €4 billion thanks to the introduction of a new club competition, the Europa Conference League, and a new format and commercial structure for the UEFA Women’s Champions League (UWCL).

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Media rights revenue accounted for 84.5%, or €3.4 billion, of UEFA’s total income, down from €4.5 billion in 2020-21.

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Commercial revenue was €533.7 million, a significant drop from €992.1 million in the prior year, and income from ticketing came in at €35.9 million.

Hospitality brought in €27.9 million, while other revenues generated €26.9 million.

With no men’s Euros tournament and fewer national team matches, club competitions generated 89% of the total revenue for UEFA (€3.6 billion).

The UWCL generated €15.2 million in revenue, an increase from €1.4 million in the previous year when rights were sold by the competing clubs before UEFA’s new centralized model was introduced.

Of the total, 53.3% (€8.1 million) was generated by media rights sales, with 44.7% (€6.8 million) brought in from commercial rights. 

The increased figures come after UEFA took the decision to adopt a new competition structure for the UWCL, including a group stage, and introduce a centralized commercial and broadcast rights model for the 2021-22 to 2024-25 cycle.

The majority of the media revenue came from UEFA’s a four-year deal with global streaming service DAZN signed in June 2021.

DAZN shows every UWCL game on its platform and for free on YouTube.

Overall, UEFA posted a net loss of €76.3 million for the period, a difference of almost €100 million from the previous year.

The share of revenue that the governing body distributed between associated clubs and national teams amounted to €3.3 billion, or 80% of the total turnover.

The distribution to the federations participating in the European qualifiers and the UEFA Nations League competition amounted to €402 million. Over €2.8 billion was distributed to the clubs, an increase from 2020-21.

Image: Harold Cunningham/Getty Images for UEFA