Sports
‘Premier League clubs lost £600m in season before virus’
Premier League clubs made a combined loss of £600 million in the 2018/19 season, even before suffering the financial pain of the coronavirus pandemic, a report revealed on yesterday.
Analysis from football finance experts Vysyble shows the 20 clubs in the English top-flight combined to post the huge loss despite record revenues of £5.15 billion ($6.6 billion)
The financial impact of COVID-19 is set to have a huge impact on the Premier League, even if plans to complete the current season behind closed doors go smoothly.
Premier League sides face paying a reported £330 million to broadcasters in rebates as matches could not be completed on schedule.
An estimated £126 million could also be lost in match-day income from gate receipts and hospitality.
“The COVID-19 virus is not the cause of football’s financial distress. It is merely the accelerant on what our data has very clearly and very correctly identified as a much longer-term problem,” said Vysyble director Roger Bell.
“The 2018/19 numbers are a disturbing and profoundly worrying financial outcome from England’s senior football divisions and is symptomatic of the deeper issues with the overall financial model.”
Wage costs for Premier League clubs have risen to £3.12 billion.
Everton posted alarming losses of £111 million, while Chelsea’s failure to qualify for the Champions League saw the Blues lose £96 million.
Yet the most worrying sign for the future financial health of the league may come from Tottenham.
Spurs posted a league-high profit of £68.6 million for the 2018/19 season on the back of a run to the Champions League final.
But the London club announced last week they had borrowed £175 million from the Bank of England.
They fear they could lose £200 million over the next year due to the loss of matchday income, cancellation of non-football events such as NFL matches and concerts and rebates owed to broadcasters.
“Our data has consistently demonstrated that football has been the master of its own misfortune with an over-reliance on TV revenues, staff cost-to-revenue ratios regularly in excess of safe operating limits (UEFA guidance recommends 70 per cent) and a failure to recognise key financial dynamics and trends,” added Bell.
The economic outlook for the Championship is also bleak.
Four Championship clubs have yet to release their full 2019 accounts, but the second tier of English football has so far combined for economic losses of £307 million.
The final economic loss total for all 24 EFL Championship clubs is expected to be at least £350 million. – worldfootball.net
Otto Addo is taking a calm and focused approach to the World Cup after being drawn against England, Panama, and Croatia in Group L.
“I look forward to every game as special,” he told ghanafa.org.
“Very important for us that we don’t underrate any team. For sure, England is the favourite in that group,” he acknowledged. “But for me as a coach, to be honest, I’m looking at each and every game equally.”
Addo is particularly focused on getting a strong start against Panama. “I’m hoping that we have a good start against Panama, that will be very, very crucial,” he said. “It will make the other games a little bit more relaxed and easier for the players psychologically. We will use the window of March for test matches, and then see,” he said.
Despite being a young team, Addo is proud of his squad’s progress. “I think we did very well in the qualifiers ” he said. “We didn’t lose a single official game, like the qualifying games, we did very well. We just played one draw and the rest we won, so we had quite a good year in 2025, after a bad year in 2024’’.
“Even though we have a very young team, we really, really did well, had a good harmony in the team, good union,” he added.
Ghana will open their FIFA World Cup campaign against Panama in Toronto on June 17 before facing England and Croatia in the other Group L matches on June 23 and 27 respectively.
The unbeaten away run of Accra Hearts of Oak will be put to the test tomorrow when they visit the Aliu Mahama Sports Stadium in Tamale to play as guests of Karela United. Described as one of the top-liners of the weekend games, the match will pitch one of the best home teams against the best away team, with their records on the line.
After playing a pulsating 2-2 draw with Kumasi Asante Kotoko last week, league leaders Medeama SC return to their fortress, the TnA Stadium, to welcome Berekum Chelsea FC in a clash of former league winners. Medeama have struggled in recent times to hold their own against the ‘Bibires’, losing their last four games both home and away.
However, according to Head Coach of Medeama, Tanko Ibrahim, that sequence of results will come to an end tomorrow as they look to crawl out of the claws of their opponents with victory. Eleven points separate the sides, with Berekum Chelsea lying a distant 14th position on the log. They have been a pale shadow of themselves this season, and it remains to be seen if Coach Samuel Boadu’s side can keep the bragging rights over the Yellow and Mauves in what has been described as one of their worse starts to a league season.
Today, second-placed Kpando Heart of Lions will trek to the Kwame Kyei Sports Complex in Abrankese to play as guests of struggling Nations FC. Having suffered a 1-0 away loss to Basake Holy Stars in their last game, Nations FC would look to pick all three points to better their current 12th position.
In other games, the Hohoe Sports Stadium will come alive as new boys Hohoe United FC welcome Kumasi Asante Kotoko. The Nii Adjei Kraku II Sports Complex in Tema will host the Vision FC versus Young Apostles FC game, the Tuba Astro Turf will host the Dreams FC versus Bechem United FC clash, while the Nsenkyire Sports Arena will host the Samartex FC versus Bibiani Gold Stars game. High-riding Aduana FC will sort things out with Basake Holy Stars at the Nana Agyeman Badu I Park in Dormaa.
By Raymond Ackumey
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