By Paul Nicholson
February 4 – UEFA’s annual club licensing report just released, is it most impressive yet, leaving almost no stone unturned in its review and overview of the health of the club game in Europe.
It is perhaps apposite that the 13th edition of the report comes at what looks to be the end of the most challenging period the European governing body has faced since its foundation by 31 member nations in 1954.
The report is comprehensive mix of ‘activity’ reporting, to youth development trends, to financial analysis. While the pandemic years show a sport in crisis and professional clubs battling to maintain revenue in the face of no, or very limited, ticket income, it also shows football’s ability to bounceback.
People want to play the game, fans want to watch their clubs, and investors want to take advantage of the commercial opportunity.
It is a point picked up by Aleksander Ceferin in his introduction to the report.
“This report provides sobering details of the post-pandemic challenges that await us, but it also illustrates the remarkable robustness and resilience of European football, with its unified approach. Ultimately, the pandemic will only make usstronger. The main actors, i.e. the players and fans, have shown great understanding in response to this unique situation.This report shows that partners, sponsors, and broadcasters continue to have faith in us and support us too,” says Ceferin.
With stunning amount of numbers and highlighted trends in this report it is hard to isolate the most important figures, but the €4.4 billion lost gate receipts (88% down – a drop from 16% of club revenues to 2%) sums up the horror of the pandemic for professional club football.
The real takeaway from this report (titled ‘The European Club Footballing Landscape’, with ‘landscape’ not being an exaggeration) is that other revenue streams have held up strongly. Broadcasters and sponsors want to engage with football.
And this points to a much bigger and more philosophical importance alluded to by Ceferin. “The COVID crisis hasalso highlighted to what extent football is part of the fabric of European life. Football was a true lifeline for many,” he says.
It is this European ‘fabric’ that has held strong and which is now being defended against attempts to rip it apart, whether they come internally (proposed Super League, Premier League breakaways) or externally, like FIFA and its multiple ideas for new competitions like biennial World Cups and bigger and more frequent Club World Cups.
FIFA will be poring through this report enviously looking for ways to pick UEFA’s pocket. But FIFA should beware, the scale of UEFA is truly impressive but don’t be fooled into thinking there is fat to trim off the beast – the fat is muscle and UEFA is putting it to work, every day.
“One lesson of the past two years has been that it is only by showing solidarity and working together that European football can overcome existential challenges such as the pandemic. That was also a lesson drawn from the so-called Super League project. The self-interested actions of a misguided few were thwarted by the unity of European football – fans, clubs, players, and national associations,” says Ceferin,
“This report provides sobering details of the post-pandemic challenges that await us, but it also illustrates the remarkable robustness and resilience of European football, with its unified approach. Ultimately, the pandemic will only make us stronger.
Looking forward the report finds UEFA’s members are showing healthy television revenues in 2021, and the new UEFA club competition rights cycle (2021/22–2023/24) has seen growth in broadcast rights revenue.
UEFA prize money will increase to more than €2.7bn per year, to be shared among the 96 clubs participating in the three club competitions, while solidarity payments for youth development to clubs not qualifying for UEFA club competitions, are projected to increase by more than 60%, says UEFA.
UEFA’s garden is not in full bloom, but this report shows that they have weathered the longest and harshest of winters, and spring is coming. But so are the cherry pickers.
To see the 160-page European Club Footballing Landscape report,click here.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1736561124labto1736561124ofdlr1736561124owedi1736561124sni@n1736561124osloh1736561124cin.l1736561124uap1736561124