European soccer governing body UEFA has revealed that revenues across top-tier clubs in UEFA competitions have reached record levels during the 2021-22 fiscal year.
UEFA’s European Club Finance and Investment Landscape report revealed that top-division UEFA clubs generated around €23.9 billion ($25 billion) of revenue in the 2021-22 fiscal year, the highest tally ever recorded.
The number is a massive increase from the €15 billion tally recorded a decade prior (2013), highlighting the rapid growth of European soccer’s commercial value.
Commercial revenue across European soccer has grown by 56% since 2013, sitting at €7.7 billion in 2013, compared to €5 billion ten years before.
An even greater growth effect contributing to rising revenues has been the soaring value of soccer media rights across the continent. UEFA clubs generated €4.6 billion from TV rights in 2013, a figure that has grown by 75% to €8 billion in 2022. Even this is a decline from the €9 billion tally of 2021, showing that there is still room for further increase.
The fact that 2022 saw the lingering financial effects of the Covid-19 pandemic induced shutdown and subsequent business contraction, yet still notched record revenues, indicates that the tally in 2023-24 and subsequent years could continue to grow even higher.
Indeed UEFA predicts that total revenue will exceed €26 billion in 2023-24, including a rise in TV revenue to €8.3 billion and commercial revenue to as much as €8.4 billion.
It will mean that total revenue across UEFA top divisions will have grown at a pace of over €1 billion per year for the last ten years.
UEFA itself helps to contribute revenue for top-tier clubs based on performance, and in 2021-22 paid out €2.9 billion to clubs, primarily to those competing in its Champions League, Europa League, and Europea Conference League competitions.
This is a 122% increase on 2013, showcasing the massive growth in money UEFA has made to allow it to dispense greater funds. 93.5% of UEFA’s club competition revenue is distributed towards its constituent teams.
Aleksander Čeferin, president of UEFA, stated in the report: “[The UEFA] model highlights the importance of revenue generated at the pinnacle of the football pyramid to sustain its base at the grassroots level and provide the much-needed funding to foster its growth. And the European Club Finance and Investment Landscape is a true testament to UEFA's role in upholding it."
