FOOTBALL – The corona pandemic has cost FC Barcelona and Real Madrid the most money of all top European clubs. This financial damage is mainly the result of the countless matches that had to be played without an audience.
This was confirmed by a study carried out by consultancy firm KMPG into the consequences of the pandemic for the main European football divisions. Consequently, the larger clubs, in particular, have been hardest hit financially as a result of the long-term corona restrictions.
Year without an audience
Although the football competition was resumed in the summer of 2020, the stadiums remained empty for another year during the matches. Furthermore, it was not until this summer’s European Championship that matches could be played with an audience again.
Therefore, KPMG investigated the consequences of empty stadiums at clubs in the English Premier League, the Spanish LaLiga, the German Bundesliga, French Ligue 1 and the Italian Serie A. This shows that the number of matches played decreased between the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 seasons by 27%. Futhermore, all matches not played in the aforementioned competitions led to a loss of income of €500million.
Biggest division loss for Bundesliga
However, looking at the different divisions, the Bundesliga took the biggest loss. The empty stadiums cost the participating clubs €157million in just one year. This is followed by the Premier League with a loss of revenue of €102million and La Liga with a loss of €101million. Serie A lost €79million in revenue and Ligue 1 lost €48 million.
Furthermore, at club level, KPMG’s research revealed FC Barcelona and Real Madrid as the clubs with the greatest financial loss. As such, for FC Barcelona, it was €39million, and for Real Madrid €35million. And this is followed by German club Schalke 04 (€26million), Manchester United (€24million), and Bayern Munich (€22million).
