Home ›› 25 Aug 2021 ›› Sport
Matchday revenues across the five major European football leagues took a nearly 2 billion euro hit last season after spectators were largely barred from attending matches due to the pandemic, a report by consultancy KPMG said Tuesday.
The projected revenue losses dwarf the 500 million euros that clubs in the leagues suffered in the 2019/20 season, when the virus first affected Europe and led to sport being suspended in March 2020, only resuming months later without spectators. The continent’s top five leagues are England’s Premier League, Italy’s Serie A, Spain’s La Liga, Germany’s Bundesliga and the French Ligue 1.
“It is expected that clubs in the big 5 leagues will make little-to-no income from this source in 2020/21, potentially losing out on over 2bn euros of matchday revenues combined,” the report said.
For the 2019/20 season the Bundesliga, which has the average highest attendance, was the most impacted (an estimated 157 million euros drop in revenues) while Ligue 1 suffered the least (48 million euros). The report stated that of five big clubs, Barcelona saw the biggest dip, registering a 39-million euros contraction in matchday revenues.
The financial impact is also set to continue in the present season.
The Premier League and Ligue 1 are the only ones among the big five leagues to have allowed full capacity stadia this season.
The analysis added this summer’s delayed Euro 2020 tournament had laid the groundwork for the return of fans but that it had also had a negative side effect.
