December 4 – Barcelona’s financial crisis has taken a massive hit with Carlos Tusquets, the club’s interim president, announcing that player salaries in January will be postponed.
December 3 – City Football Group and soft drinks brand Red Bull have blazed a trail in the area of multi-club football ownership, and in the pandemic era of no fans and an uncertain broadcast and sponsorship market, opportunities to buy professional teams have never been greater.
December 2 – Norwegian Erling Haaland’s goals for Borussia Dortmund have propelled him to the top of a table of €80 million+ footballers with the fastest increasing transfer valuations. He is followed by Manchester United’s mercurial Bruno Fernandes.
December 1 – Inter Milan have reported losses of €102.4 million for the 2019/20 financial year, that covers the suspension of the season in March when the covid pandemic hit.
December 1 – Following the lead of their bigger brothers, Italy’s Serie B clubs have formed a new media rights company to manage the leagues marketing and broadcast assets.
November 30 – Spain’s Atlético Madrid will report a net profit of €1.8 million for the 2019/20 season despite debt rising to a massive €999 million, according to reports.
November 26 – The trend of Chinese investors exiting European club ownership looks set to continue if West Bromwich Albion owner Guochuan Lai (pictured) can complete a reported £150 million deal with a US consortium.
By David Owen
November 24 – Tottenham Hotspur’s reign at the top of the Premier League profits table is over, with chairman Daniel Levy warning that a further £150 million of revenue could be lost irrecoverably in the present financial year if the club’s shiny new stadium remains closed to fans.
By David Owen
November 22 – Rangers, the Glasgow club which has built up an eight-point lead in pursuit of their first Scottish top-flight title in a decade, has posted an increased loss for the year to end-June 2020.
November 20 – After months of twists and turns, Italy’s Serie A has finally agreed a deal to sell a 10% stake in a newly created media and commercial rights holding company to private equity firms CVC and Advent. They will pay a reported €1.7 billion for their position, delivering a much needed cash injection for the debt-laden clubs.
By Paul Nicholson
November 19 – Private equity money looking to make a play in the football business is not being discouraged by the pandemic with investors increasingly looking at opportunities outside the higher priced top tiers of the Big 5 league clubs.
By Samindra Kunti
November 18 – La Liga has acted to keep club spending under control by reduced salary caps across its two leagues by more than €600 million because of the coronavirus pandemic. Clubs are currently on track to overspend their income by €500 million.
By David Owen
November 13 – Higher broadcasting revenue was not enough to prevent inconsistent Manchester United from reporting a pre-tax loss of £27.1 million for the first quarter of 2020-21, as coronavirus continued to exact a heavy toll on football club finances.
November 12 – The annual player demographic census by the CIES Football Observatory shows the immediate impact the coronavirus pandemic has had in slowing down the movement of players and “strengthening” the gaps between the elite clubs and league and the rest.
November 6 – The Swiss government has earmarked loans totalling CHF175 million ($194 million) per year 0 for 2020 and 2021 – for sports clubs in the country to enable them to survive the financial impact of the coronavirus.