Topicality. The pandemic has greatly affected the economies of all nations. Sport, too, has suffered the consequences of the measures necessary to contain the infection, with obvious consequences on clubs' budgets. Purpose. The study analyses the financial performance of a sample of football teams in the leagues of three European nations: Italy Spain and Germany. It highlights the ten-year trend of profitability and financial structure. This is also to verify the impact of the pandemic on the balance sheets of the major football clubs. Methodology. Fromthe Orbis Europe full database of the Bureau vanDick database, the balance sheet data for 10 consecutive years of the decade 2012-2021 of the 10 most representative teams of the Italian, Spanish and German leagues were taken. Subsequently, the development of Roe and Leverage was analysed. The data were also subjected to various statistical elaborations mainly to verify whether the differences between the three nations are significant. Results. In recent years, there has been a much smaller decline in profitability in Spain and Germany, rather than in Italy, where the results have been truly disastrous. On the contrary, a progressive improvement of the financial structure can be noted, especially of the Italian clubs, which have recorded worrying values over time. The Italian clubs, however, although very renowned, have too often had worse outcomes over the decade than the teams of the other two nations. Implications. This study implements the literature on the effects of the pandemic on the economy, especially in sports. It encourages comparisons in time and space of budgets. It will be necessary to implement the research by analysing the trend of other indices as well to have more detailed information. However, the results are useful for the governance of European football clubs and also for public authorities that often support sports activities that are considered socially relevant. This is also at a time when refreshments were needed to cope with the damage resulting from the pandemic.
Profitability and financial structure of soccer clubs: an international comparison
Migliaccio Guido
Writing – Original Draft Preparation
;
2022-01-01
Abstract
Topicality. The pandemic has greatly affected the economies of all nations. Sport, too, has suffered the consequences of the measures necessary to contain the infection, with obvious consequences on clubs' budgets. Purpose. The study analyses the financial performance of a sample of football teams in the leagues of three European nations: Italy Spain and Germany. It highlights the ten-year trend of profitability and financial structure. This is also to verify the impact of the pandemic on the balance sheets of the major football clubs. Methodology. Fromthe Orbis Europe full database of the Bureau vanDick database, the balance sheet data for 10 consecutive years of the decade 2012-2021 of the 10 most representative teams of the Italian, Spanish and German leagues were taken. Subsequently, the development of Roe and Leverage was analysed. The data were also subjected to various statistical elaborations mainly to verify whether the differences between the three nations are significant. Results. In recent years, there has been a much smaller decline in profitability in Spain and Germany, rather than in Italy, where the results have been truly disastrous. On the contrary, a progressive improvement of the financial structure can be noted, especially of the Italian clubs, which have recorded worrying values over time. The Italian clubs, however, although very renowned, have too often had worse outcomes over the decade than the teams of the other two nations. Implications. This study implements the literature on the effects of the pandemic on the economy, especially in sports. It encourages comparisons in time and space of budgets. It will be necessary to implement the research by analysing the trend of other indices as well to have more detailed information. However, the results are useful for the governance of European football clubs and also for public authorities that often support sports activities that are considered socially relevant. This is also at a time when refreshments were needed to cope with the damage resulting from the pandemic.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
