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Annual Review of Football Finance 2016

Reboot

2016 marks the 25th edition of the publication, and with the Premier League set to embark on its 25th season, it seems natural to reflect on the unprecedented change and development in the game since we first published the Annual Review of Football Finance in 1992.

The incredible pace of revenue growth over this period is best encapsulated by the following statistic: By half-time of the second Premier League game that is televised domestically in 2016/17, more broadcast revenue will have been generated than by all the First Division matches combined 25 years ago.

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About the report

For the first time ever, the full report is available to download for free from the link opposite. We hope that you find it both interesting and useful. If you would like to discuss this year's analysis and predictions and their implications for your business in more detail, please feel free to get in touch.

The report includes analysis of the business drivers and financial trends and prospects for clubs in some of the top leagues in European football and in the top four divisions of English football, with a particular focus on Premier League and Championship clubs. We also feature commentary about other aspects of the game including the broadcast rights market, clubs’ community activities, building good governance, ticketing strategies, and the impact of China on the football industry.

A Chinese language summary of the report is also available to download for free on the right hand side.

Key findings

Ten of our key findings from this year’s edition are shown below. You can find out more information by downloading the report.

  • Combined revenues of the ‘big five’ European leagues were €12 billion in 2014/15 as four of the ‘big five’ leagues recorded revenue growth
  • On average 89% of additional revenue generated by the ‘big five’ European leagues in 2014/15 was spent on wage costs
  • We expect the European football market will exceed €25 billion in 2016/17
  • In 2014/15, Premier League clubs generated revenue of £3.3 billion; up 3% on 2013/14 as for the first time, the Premier leads the football world in all three key revenue categories
  • Premier League clubs’ wage costs increased by 7% to exceed £2 billion for the first time
  • Premier League clubs recorded a second consecutive year of overall profitability for the first time this century
  • We project that Premier League clubs’ revenues will grow by over 20% in 2016/17, to over £4.3 billion. 
  • Premier League clubs are likely to spend over £1 billion in the 2016 summer transfer window
  • Aggregate attendances for Premier League and Football League matches reached 30m in the 2015/16 season

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Want more?

In addition, the Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance - Databook is available to purchase via the Deloitte Store. The 36 page Databook contains over 8,000 data items on various topics covered in the Report, prepared on the basis of our specialist and long-established methodologies. It is the most comprehensive source of football finance data currently available.

This year we will also be launching the Deloitte Football Intelligence Tool, which is a new digital service for use with clients to benchmark European football clubs across a range of business and market metrics. If you would like to hear more about the Football Intelligence Tool, please contact one of the team.

Previous editions of the report are also available on Deloitte Store.

Previous editions

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