1.
Ahead of the curve
Annual Review of
Football Finance
Sports Business Group
July 2017

2.
This 26th edition of the Deloitte Annual
Review of Football Finance documents
English and European professional football’s
business and commercial performance
over the 2015/16 season, which will be
remembered for Leicester City’s remarkable
Premier League title triumph.

3.
Annual Review of Football Finance 2017 | Europe’s premier leagues
Europe’s premier leagues
‘Big five’ European league clubs’ revenues – 2015/16 (€m)
4,000
3,000
2,000
0
1,000
5,000
6,000
England
1,485
1,917
Germany Spain Italy France
243 151 122 96 74
Average revenue per club (€m)
36,490 42,420 27,626 21,680 20,894
Average match attendance
96% 90% 76% 52% 70%
Stadium utilisation
325
22%
340
23%
656
44%
164
11%
2,712
773
29%
478
18%
933
34%
528
19%
523
27%
1,190
62%
204
11%
4,865
1,457
30%
2,577
53%
831
17%
2,437
705
29%
1,232
51%
500
20%
Matchday
Broadcasting
Sponsorship/Commercial
Other commercial
Note: Commercial revenue is not
disaggregated into ‘sponsorship’
and ‘other commercial’ for clubs in
England, Spain and Italy.
Source: Leagues; Deloitte analysis.
Growing broadcast revenues have
pushed the ‘big five’ European
leagues even further ahead of
their competitor leagues.
of additional revenue
generated by the ‘big
five’ European leagues
in 2015/16 was spent
on wage costs.
57%

4.
Annual Review of Football Finance 2017 | Premier League clubs
Premier League clubs
Commercial
Broadcasting
Matchday
Premier League clubs’ revenues 2013/14-2017/18 (£m)
Source: Deloitte analysis.
4,000
3,000
2,000
0
1,000
5,000
6,000
13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18
3,259 3,350
3,639
4,460 4,550
163 168 182 223 228
Average revenue per club
Projected
897
27%
1,758
54%
604
19%
987
29%
1,780
53%
583
18%
1,090
30%
1,927
53%
622
17%
1,120
25%
2,700
61%
640
14%
1,170
26%
2,710
59%
670
15%
The average revenue of a Premier
League club was £182m in 2015/16,
more than all 22 top division clubs
generated in total in 1991/92.
Leicester City won the
league despite generating
less than 40% of the
average revenues of the
big six clubs.
40%

5.
Annual Review of Football Finance 2017 | Premier League clubs
Premier League clubs
Premier League clubs’ revenues and wage costs – 2015/16 (£m)
Source: Deloitte analysis.Revenue Wage costs
400
300
200
0
100
500
600
515
393
350
335
302
209
182
144
129 126 124 122
108 106 104 101 98 98 96 91 88
47% 50% 56% 69% 69% 50% 63% 59% 62% 59% 68% 78% 78% 88% 79% 80% 75% 69% 85% 64% 68%
241
198 195
232
209
105 114
85 80 75 85 95 84 93 82 81 74 67 82
58 60
ManUtd
Chelsea
Arsenal
Liverpool
TottenhamHotspur
Average
Everton
NewcastleUnited
LeicesterCity
WestHamUnited
AstonVilla
Sunderland
NorwichCity
AFCBournemouth
Southampton
SwanseaCity
CrystalPalace
Watford
ManCity
WestBromwichAlbion
StokeCity
Wages/revenue ratio
Leicester City, who ranked
15th in wage costs,
outperformed their wage
spending to an extent
never before achieved in
Premier League history.
Contributed by English
professional football
to Government in
taxes in 2015/16
£1.6 billion

6.
Annual Review of Football Finance 2017 | Football League clubs
Football League clubs
Chart 14: Football League clubs’ revenues and wage costs – 2014/15 and 2015/16 (£m)
400
500
600
700
300
200
0
100
14/15 15/16
548
99%
Championship
22.6
101%
23.4
542
561
556
14/15 15/16
124
86%
League 1
4.5
83%
4.7
107
136
113
14/15 15/16
82
72%
League 2
2.5
70%
2.5
59
86
60
Source: Deloitte analysis.
Revenue
Wage costs
Wages/revenue ratio
Average wage costs
per club
Championship clubs’ revenues look set
to increase to over £600m in 2016/17
with parachute payments and solidarity
distributions from the Premier League
increasing significantly.
Championship clubs total wage
costs exceeded revenue for the
third time in four seasons

7.
Annual Review of Football Finance 2017 | Player transfers
Player transfers
Premier League clubs spent a record
£1.3 billion on transfers during
the 2015/16 season, fuelled by the
impending increase in broadcast
revenues in 2016/17.
Chinese Super League
clubs spent over £300m
on player transfers in
their winter 2016/17
transfer window.
£300m+
Premier League and Football League clubs’ player transfer payments – 2015/16 (£m)
Premier League clubs
Within PL clubs
£213m
Premier League total
£1,337m
Non-English
clubs
Football League
clubs
Within FL clubs
£69m
Football League total
£187m
Agents
£47m
£8m
£160m
£37m
£34m
£77m
£328m
£887m
Note: The arrows represent the
flow of payments, whilst the
players transfer the opposite way.
The estimated amount of fees in
respect of the transfer of player
registrations refer to amounts
committed in 2015/16, rather than
actual cashflows. The sources for
the amounts in the chart relate to
periods that are not necessarily
coterminous.
Source: Premier League; Football
League; Deloitte analysis.

8.
Annual Review of Football Finance 2017 | Stadia
Stadia
Premier League and Football League clubs’ expenditure on
stadia and other facilities – 2014/15 and 2015/16 (£m)
200
250
300
350
150
100
0
50
2014/15 2015/16
305
313
228
53
21
235
68
55
3
Source: Deloitte analysis.
Premier League
Championship
League 1
League 2
Premier League clubs are investing more
now in their stadia and facilities than ever
before, as they look to grow matchday
revenue and improve the fan experience.
Sixteen Premier
League clubs
averaged stadium
capacity utilisation
of 95% or more in
2016/17.

9.
Annual Review of Football Finance 2017 | Europe’s premier leagues
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