Annual Review of Football Finance

Highlights

2013/14 saw the combined revenues of Premier League clubs pass the £3 billion mark for the first time and widen the gap to its nearest rival, the Bundesliga, to over £1 billion. The size of the Premier League prize grows ever greater and this year again demonstrates that the desire to reach the league by those clubs in the Championship has never been greater.

For more information and insights, you can purchase the full report from the Deloitte Store, or view the infographic or slideshare below.

Key findings

The key findings from this year's Annual Review are shown below. You can also download our report highlights.

Europe's premier leagues

• Cumulative revenues of the ‘big five’ European leagues rose by 15% to €11.3 billion in 2013/14.
• All five leagues reported record revenues for the third successive season, but the gap between the ‘big five’ leagues and other leading European leagues continued to widen.
• The overall wages/revenue ratio fell to 59% across the ‘big five’ leagues, its lowest level since 1999/00.
  

Revenue and profitability

• Record Premier League revenue of £3.26 billion represented a £735m (29%) increase on 2012/13, due to 2013/14 being the first year of the current broadcast rights packages.
• Premier League clubs generated record operating profits of £614m with 19 of the 20 clubs in the division recording an operating profit.
• Championship revenue increased by 12% to a record of £491m, driven by an increase in parachute payments.

Wages and transfers

• The overall Premier League wages/revenue ratio fell dramatically to 58%, its lowest level since the 1998/99 season.
• Total Championship wage costs exceeded £500m for the first time, with the wages/revenue ratio over 100% for the second consecutive season.

• Total transfer spending across all 92 English league clubs exceeded £1 billion for the first time in 2013/14.

Financing and investment

• Premier League clubs’ aggregate net debt reduced to £2.4 billion in 2014, with record levels of cash now present in balance sheets.
• Championship clubs’ aggregate net debt increased to £1.1 billion at summer 2014.
• At £280m, the overall level of capital expenditure by England’s 92 professional clubs in 2013/14 was the highest of all time.