UEFA report lays bare growing wealth gap in European football

Europe's top-division clubs generated a combined profit for second successive year in 2018, but gap between wealthiest sides and rest continues to grow, according to a new report published by UEFA. annual "benchmarking" report from European football's governing body calculates that combined profit of 700 top-tier clubs across continent was 140 million euros ($156 million) with total revenues up to 21 billion euros, an increase of one billion euros. However, 75 percent of all revenues were generated by so-called "Big Five" leagues of England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France. 

READ | Setién Has Difficult Task Of Replacing Suárez At Barcelona

UEFA report lays bare growing wealth gap

In addition, more than half of all top-division revenues for 2019 will be generated by just top 30 clubs, according to preliminary reporting for year. That underlines power wielded by continent's very biggest sides, tably England's so-called "Big Six" and likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain. However, UEFA also highlight concerns about growing polarisation, both between biggest leagues and rest and between leading clubs in smaller leagues and those below m.

READ | Chennaiyin FC Beats NEU FC 2-0, Improves Play-off Chances

"Despite a general improvement over time, TV distributions within many leagues are heavily skewed in favour of biggest/most successful clubs, reby widening revenue gap between big clubs and ors," report says.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said in foreword to report: " report highlights a number of threats to continued European football stability and success.

"se include risks of globalisation-fuelled revenue polarisation, of a fragmenting media landscape, and of cases of over-dependence on transfer activity revenue." 

latest Deloitte Football Money League, published this week, ranked  Barcelona top club for 2018/19, ahead of Madrid, becoming first to break 800 million-euro barrier in revenue. However, Deloitte's report also showed that Spanish champions generate almost six times revenue of fifth-biggest earning La Liga club, thanks to success of ir commercial operations. Even within "Big Five" leagues, Premier League is far ahead of rest -- it's combined revenue of 5.4 billion euros in 2018 compares with 3.2 billion euros in second-ranked German Bundesliga.

READ | AIFF Hails Mohun Bagan's Merger With ATK As Historic Development

France's Ligue 1 is fifth with 1.7 billion euros of combined revenue in 2018, but champions PSG's income alone reached almost a third of that figure. report comes following a year in which radical changes to format of UEFA Champions League have been proposed by European Club Association, and less than two months after Real president Florenti Perez became president of new World Club Football Association. It has been reported that WCFA has held talks with private equity partners over formation of a global league.

However, Ceferin added: " report also shows that European club football is strong, united and resilient, and I am certain that European football can and will overcome se challenges and ors just as successfully as it dealt with threat of spiralling losses in recent past."  increased profits contrast with 2011, before UEFA's introduction of current Financial Fair Play system, when clubs reported an overall loss of 1.7 billion euros. 

READ | Bagan's Identity And Essence Would t Be Compromised: AGS Srinjoy Bose