There are millions of dollars spent on each football tournament. Football players, football associations, football managers, football clubs and football players are so rich. But how do football clubs earn money? Let’s make it clear through this article.
Top 10 richest football clubs in the world/ Image via Students.lphs.org
Television rights
Television rights play a part in the football club’s wealth. Source: ty le keo nha cai -Wolves
There is no doubt that football is the most popular and the hottest sport in the world. Every tournament, no matter its size, from the biggest ones like FIFA World Cup, Premier League to the smaller ones such as regional or national tournament, attracts millions of people watching. Whenever a tournament comes, television right becomes a hot topic between the tournament organizing entities and television stations. The tournament organizing entities want more money while television stations want to save as much money as possible.
In 2015, the tournament of Premier League received more than £5 billion in television rights while the La Liga tournament received £1 billion in television rights. The revenue from television rights is shared equally between football clubs participating in the tournament.
Taking about money from television rights, from 2015 to 2016, Manchester City earned an amount of more than £76 million from their Champion League. Of all the money they received, £42 million was from television rights. There is no doubt that television right is one of the main money sources of any football club.
Prize money
Prize money is another big part of the club’s financial sources. Not similar to the amount of money received from television rights, the prize money is received based on the performance of the club during the tournament. The difference between the worst position and the best position in the table could be up to £17.1 million, for instance, in the Premier League. In 2016, Manchester United beat Crystal Palace in the final match of the FA Cup and earned the prize money of £1.8 million.
Player transfers
We often hear about million-dollar player transfers. The more professional and skilled the football players are, the higher the transfer fee is. People sometimes overlook the player transfer fee, but it actually earns a football club big money. Usually, such money will be reinvested in the development of the clubs in general. The player transfer fee is not considered a part of a club’s income, but it contributes greatly to a club’s financial strength. Liverpool, after the sale of its footballer Luis Suarez to Barcelona in 2014, witnessed its coffers swelling.
To ensure a decent amount of money got by player transfer, one of the popular tactics of smaller clubs is to add a sell-on fee into the contract when the players are transferred to another club. Raheem Sterling was transferred from Liverpool to Manchester City even when he had not stayed in Liverpool for a long time. His transfer fee was £49 million.
For an inconsistent young player, this amount is such an ideal one. However, do you know who is the sly beneficiary of the deal? It is Queens Park Rangers. The club had negotiated a 20% sell-on fee with Liverpool when Manchester bought him from the London club several years before. This means that in the total amount of the transfer fee – £49, there was £39 million for the Merseysiders while the Queens Park Rangers, who acted more like an intermediate, earned an amount of £10 million.
Gate receipts and match day revenue
Revenue from match day and gate receipts used to be the main one of football clubs before the Premier League reinvented football as a money-spinning beast. The more popular and successful a club participating in each match is, the more football fans willing to pay a large sum for each ticket. Clubs and teams engaging in tournaments such as FIFA World Cup, FA Cup, League Cup, and European Competition can earn a huge amount of money from tickets.
Advertising
Believe it or not, advertisement is also a part of a club’s income. Football is in an ideal way to advertise something and companies know that. Instead of pouring their money on an expensive advertising campaign but the unsure outcome, many businesses prefer using celebrities for their marketing campaign. And football, as the king of sports, is what companies are heading for. Emirates sponsor Arsenal, AIG sponsor Manchester United, Samsung sponsor Chelsea and Carlsberg sponsor Liverpool.
Advertisement is a source of revenue for clubs and individual footballers. Source: Middlesbrough FC
Their fame and popularity are worth for companies to invest millions of dollars on them. Often, you can witness clubs wear shirts with the name or logo of the brand which sponsors them. In 2006, the chief executive of AIG announced the sponsorship of Manchester United Club. The sponsorship deal caused a stir because it was up to £56.5 million in four years. This meant that every year, the club received an amount of £14.1 million.
Having famous footballers wearing shirts with the companies’ names printed on it is such an incredible way to advertise the company, build great customer’ attraction, and develop the reputation of the company. There are not many companies can afford to pay such a huge amount of money to advertise their companies in this way. However, it cannot be denied that it is an outstandingly effective way to make their businesses known to the public.
The list of richest football clubs
Have you ever heard about the Football Money League? Actually, there is no official league called the Football Money League. It is what people call the list of richest football clubs. So who are at the top?
- Barcelona: Barcelona is currently the richest football club in the world. The club top the money league with the annual revenue exceed €800 million. In comparison to 2019, the club witnessed its revenue increasing by more than €150 million as a result of bringing merchandising and licensing activities in-house.
- Real Madrid: Just about €43 million lower than Barcelona, Real Madrid ranks second in the list of richest football clubs in the world. Their revenue increased by only 0.99% in comparison with the revenue of the last year 2019 (€750.9 million).
- Manchester United: The Red Devils used to be the richest football club in the world two years ago. However, this year, the club witnesses its ranking to fall to third place with €711.5 million in annual revenue.
The other names in the list include:
- Bayern Munich: €660.1 million
- Paris St. Germain: €635.9 million
- Manchester City: €610.6 million
- Liverpool: €604.7 million
- Tottenham Hotspur: €521.1 million
- Juventus: €459.7million
The football world is so rich and football clubs are not an exception. There are many ways a club can earn money. Among them, television rights, advertisements, prize money, player transfer, and match day tickets are the most popular ones, contributing considerably to the wealth of each club. View live football matches, prediction and results, football news bringing you up to the live football at https://sieukeo.com.
