Revenue across Europe’s top five football leagues reached a new all-time high, according to Deloitte’s latest Annual Review of Football Finance.
The European football market reported €38bn in total revenue across all leagues for the 2023/24 season, an 8% increase from the previous year and the top five leagues contributed heavily.
Last year, the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 generated €20.4bn in revenue alone. This was a 4% increase from the 2022/23 season and surpassed the €20bn mark for the first time.
This was backed by the commercial growth of the leagues, as well as rises in matchday revenue and more valuable broadcast rights agreements.
Deloitte forecasts the top five leagues to break the accumulative revenue record again this 2024/25 season to reach €21bn. However, the consultancy firm noted this is expected to drop during the 2025/26 season due to uncertainty around Ligue 1’s broadcast deal; DAZN will no longer be the domestic broadcaster of the French football league.
Premier League tops the charts, again
Premier League clubs generated the highest revenue amongst Europe’s top five leagues, with an aggregate revenue per club of £6.3bn, a 4% increase from 2022/23.
The revenue growth was driven by commercial partnerships and sponsorships, which in total surpassed £2bn in the English top-flight for the first time. Lucrative Premier League sponsorships, such as Manchester City with Etihad Airways, Manchester United and Snapdragon, and Liverpool’s new Adidas deal, have contributed.
Despite these partnerships, the fabled ‘big six’ Premier League clubs – Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham – experienced lower average revenue growth (3%), compared to the rest of the league, which grew by 11%.
Deloitte explains this was likely as a result of “the displacement of some clubs from the European stage and the subsequent impact this has on all primary revenue streams”.
Premier League clubs’ combined matchday revenue surpassed £900m for the first time, rising by 5%, while broadcast revenue saw a 2% increase to £3.3bn in the penultimate season of the league’s previous broadcast rights agreement, with the new deal set to begin at the start of the 2025/26 season.
Overall, Premier League clubs’ aggregate operating profit grew by 36% to over £500m, the highest since 2018/19. Deloitte cites “regulatory scrutiny and sanctions” of the league’s Profit & Sustainability Rules (PSR) “encouraging a better balance between costs and revenue”.
Rest of Europe
Meanwhile in Spain, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona once again made up the lionshare of total La Liga club revenue, responsible for 48% of the overall total.
La Liga club aggregate revenue stood at €3.8bn in 2023/24, a 6% increase from the season previous. Matchday revenue increased by 28% to €149m, while broadcast revenue saw a 1% rise to €1.8bn and remained the largest contributor to La Liga clubs’ overall revenue.
In Germany, Bundesliga clubs generated €3.8bn in total revenue, a decrease of 1% from the season before. The €1.7bn in commercial revenue remained the league’s largest contributor, making up 46% of clubs’ total revenue.
Serie A clubs generated €2.9bn in aggregate revenue, a 2% increase which was the result of a 9% increase in commercial revenue amongst Italian clubs, which grew to €1bn. Deloitte highlighted that the league’s influx of North American owners contributed to increases in sponsorship and merchandise deals.
Despite Ligue 1 contracting from 20 to 18 French clubs at the start of the 2023/24 season, clubs’ aggregate revenue grew by 7% to €2.6bn.
In 2022, CVC Capital Partners invested €1.5bn into the Professional Football League (LFP), France’s football governing body, which was recognised within Ligue 1 clubs’ financial accounts as club operating revenue.
The investment comes after several French clubs, such as Bordeaux, have experienced significant financial issues, with Bordeaux entering into administration and subsequently penalised with relegation to the fourth-tier of French football.
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