7 Football Clubs That Are ACTUALLY Profitable

there used to be a joke surrounding

football finances for about 40 or 50

years that if you wanted to be a

millionaire all you needed to do is

start out with a billion pounds and then

buy a football club implicit in that

joke of course in case that highly

complex piece of humor went over

anyone's head is the suggestion that

football clubs tend to lose money and

for many many years that was the case

indeed it still is the case for the vast

majority of clubs but not all of them

the premier league in particular is now

so lucrative that if you can prevent all

of your tv revenue from being

immediately funneled into wages and

other outgoings it is possible to

regularly turn a profit the team who

finishes bottom of the premier league

receives more domestic tv money than

every single team in europe outside of

the premier league each season with the

exception of the big three in la liga

and the team who finishes top of the

premier league receives more than twice

as much as the champions of syria and

close to twice as much as the champions

in the bundesliga

that financial disparity between the

divisions means that the bulk of

frequently profitable football clubs can

be found in english football's top

flight

yeah all right not them but there are

some interesting exceptions from outside

of the premier league as well of course

unlike most businesses football clubs

often aren't run with the intention of

making a profit at all but rather with

the primary goal of winning trophies

that makes them slightly unusual in the

business world and you could argue that

it makes this video somewhat pointless

but

if you think about it hard enough

everything's pointless really isn't it

so if nothing else at least i found this

quite interesting and hopefully you will

too here are seven football clubs that

are actually profitable

seventh newcastle united

it should be said that very few football

clubs made a profit as per their last

set of published accounts due to the

covert 19 pandemic and some that did so

only turned a profit because they are in

such financial dire straits that they

have been imposed with strict wage caps

transfer embargoes and forced into

having fire sales

so i took a multi-year outlook at club

finances when compiling my seven which

makes newcastle a slightly unusual

inclusion i say that because whilst

newcastle have been among the most

profitable teams in the premier league

for a number of years that is unlikely

to remain the case in the years to come

mike ashley unlike most football club

owners did actually run newcastle like

an ordinary business or certainly like

an audrey mike ashley business at least

the club imposed fairly tight wage

structures had a very modest net spend

in the transfer market and spent very

little on any infrastructure or

redevelopment projects the end result

was 94 million pounds in pre-tax profit

between 2010 and 2020 which was the

fourth most of any team in the premier

league during that time

in only two of those 10 seasons did

newcastle fail to turn a profit most

notably during their season in the

championship when they lost 47 million

pounds in order to secure an immediate

premier league return of course the

magpies are no longer owned by mike

ashley and their new regime is likely to

have an entirely different set of

ambitions newcastle are unlikely to be

run as a business anymore and are now

more likely to be run as an extension of

soft power by the saudi state and whilst

they might hope to one day turn a profit

like manchester city just did for the

first time that is unlikely to happen

for the best part of a decade

6.

manchester united

manchester united were ranked 4th by

forbes in their 2021 list of the most

valuable football teams in the world and

they also happen to have the fourth

highest revenue as per their most recent

accounts of any football team in the

world despite not having won a premier

league title since alex ferguson retired

over eight years ago and the fact that

they only competed in the europa league

in the 2019-20 season manchester united

still raked in more than any other

premier league team that is in large

part due to the club's enormous support

which ensures that their commercial and

match day revenue remain among the

highest in the division even when the

red devils don't rank among the top

teams in the division out on the pitch

of course

one would imagine that if manchester

united continue not to challenge for the

premier league title or the champions

league whilst the likes of manchester

city and liverpool continue to thrive

they will gradually lose ground on other

clubs in terms of revenue and support

but it is pretty clear that that's not

going to happen overnight in total

manchester united have made

191 million pounds in pre-tax profit

over the past decade which is the second

highest figure in the premier league

over that period the red devils

operating profit since the glazers

acquired the club in 2005 has been

467 million pounds but they've also had

to pay the glazer family 704 million

pounds in interest payments for interest

that was taken out in order to fund

their purchase of the club during that

time

fifth

real madrid

two of the biggest clubs in world

football feature side by side in the

seven and with the greatest of respect

to newcastle united i am referring to

manchester united and real madrid when i

say that real madrid rank as the second

most valuable club in the world

according to forbes with the second

highest most recent revenue figure real

madrid are one of only four champions

league teams to have posted a pre-tax

profit in the 2020 to 2021 tax year

albeit that was only a profit of 1

million pounds that might not seem like

much but in a season blighted by covid

in which barcelona made a loss of more

than 400 million pounds and even

manchester united lost close to 100

million pounds that is really quite

impressive

it is partly the result of madrid

keeping their powder dry so to speak

over the past few transfer windows since

spending over a hundred million pounds

on eden hazard in 2019 which

hasn't gone particularly well los

blancos have spent less than 30 million

pounds over the course of two seasons

real madrid haven't had a single

unprofitable year since the beginning of

2012 generating a total of 350 million

euros profit in that time averaging out

at around 44 million euros profit each

season

that is little surprise given the fact

that the club raked in more than 700

million euros in revenue for three

successive seasons prior to the pandemic

and have compensated for much of that

loss in matchday revenue through the

newly improved laliga television rates

package which now earns them more than

200 million euros in revenue

fourth

liverpool

it's no secret that liverpool have done

very well to challenge manchester city

over the last few years and to have won

the champions league despite having a

much more modest net spend

over the past five seasons liverpool

have a net spend of 157 million pounds

compared to 418 million pounds at

manchester city and 479 million pounds

at manchester united even the likes of

brighton aston villa newcastle west ham

and wolves have had a higher net spend

on the reds during that time due in

large part to the enormous 142 million

pounds that they received for philippe

coutinho from barcelona of course

transfer expenditure is just one

outgoing at a football club and one

which increasingly plays a secondary

role behind wage expenditure there

liverpool do spend about as much as

anyone else in the premier league albeit

there isn't a great deal to split

themselves man city chelsea and

manchester united in that department

these days

the most recent set of accounts hit hard

by the pandemic represented liverpool's

first loss making campaign since 2016

and even that was slightly misleading

due to deferred payments that will

appear in this year's accounts in total

liverpool have made 61 million pounds

profit over the past 10 years though

that figure rises to just over 200

million pounds in the last five years

and that would have been well over 250

million pounds or not for the pandemic

and the restrictions that came with it

liverpool's revenue had been grown

consistently at the fastest rate of any

of the so-called big six from 2016 to

2019 and even in the last set of

accounts the club's revenue only fell by

43 million pounds the lowest decline

among any of the big six with the

exception of chelsea who are a bit less

reliant on match day income

third tottenham hotspur

as i said in the introduction the

premier league is by far the most

profitable football league in europe and

tottenham hotspur are by far the most

profitable team in the premier league

over the past decade tottenham have

recorded a pre-tax profit of 338 million

pounds which isn't too far off being

twice the pre-tax profit of the second

most profitable club manchester united

that should come as little surprise

given tottenham's miserly wage and

transfer expenditure in relation to

their pets

tottenham's wage bill at 205 million

pounds is the lowest of the so-called

big six and is closer to everton and

leicester's wage expenditure than it is

to manchester united manchester city

chelsea or liverpool's what's more

tottenham's revenue was around 50

million pounds more than arsenal's in

the most recent set of accounts and was

just slightly less than chelsea's that

is pretty impressive when one thinks of

where tottenham were in terms of

turnover just five or ten years ago and

it also means that tottenham have the

lowest wages to turnover percentage of

any team in the premier league and

indeed among any elite level team in

europe at just 57

up from only 39

the previous season largely due to a

covert caused decline in revenue rather

than any dramatic rise in wage

expenditure everton by comparison are at

85 percent and i think reading were at

over 200

in the last accounting period which is

just wild

tottenham haven't actually been

profitable in the last two seasons

primarily due to the financing of the

new tottenham hotspur stadium which

means that spurs now have the most

lucrative stadium in the premier league

it also means that tottenham have the

most gross debt of any team in the

premier league and in fact any team in

europe and the club's 1.2 billion pounds

of total debt which equates almost

exactly to the cost of their new stadium

is around 200 million pounds more than

the current debt at fc barcelona

thankfully for tottenham they have long

term low interest loans unlike barcelona

and the profitability of the club aided

by the numerous non-footballing events

that their stadium hosts means that they

should have few issues servicing those

loans

again

unlike barcelona

second

iax

a pretty remarkable football club in

more ways than one whilst there is a big

gulf between the premier league and

every other league iax competes in the

area of easy which

isn't even a top five league either as

per uefa coefficient rankings but more

importantly in this context it also

isn't a top five league in terms of

revenue whilst we often talk of the big

three in the netherlands as being iax

feyenoord and psv in financial terms

there is really a big one followed by a

biggish two and then the rest

iax's total revenue for the last three

years has been more than feyenoord and

psv's total revenue compound thanks in

large part to axe's consistent

qualification for the champions league

in the 2018-19 season iax reached the

semi-final of the champions league which

saw their revenue climb to just shy of

200 million euros as they raked in a

record 69 million euros of profit there

aren't many teams in european football

who have ever made a 69 million euro

profit but iacs were profitable in every

single season between 2012 and 2020 with

the exception of 2016 when they made a

negligible loss of just one million

euros simply put iacs are among the best

run teams in the world and whilst the

pandemics saw them publish a loss of 12

million euros in 2021

that would have been a 25 million euro

profit similar to their 2020 figures

were not full primarily their loss of

matchday revenue

iax's recipe for success is no secret

they qualify for the champions league

group stage virtually every season they

frequently reach the knockout stage of

the europa league they have one of the

best and most consistent academies in

the world they sell their players for a

fortune and they have a brilliant record

when it comes to recruitment all things

considered they are a solid candidate as

the best run club in europe

top spot

bayern munich

bayern munich are a relentless

footballing machine but behind the

scenes they also have a relentless

financial operation ensuring that the

club is built on solid foundations like

real madrid they are one of only a tiny

number of teams who managed to turn a

profit even in a season that was blated

by covert and that is saying something

given the fact that the allianz arena

has a capacity in excess of 75 000 and

matchday revenue is typically worth

around 90 million euros a season to buy

munich

that was made possible in large part due

to band's enormous commercial revenue

where they trail only real madrid these

days having recently leapfrogged

barcelona bayern also sits second only

to real madrid in terms of their uefa

coefficient ranking over the past 10

years which is worth an additional 35

million euros to the club bundesliga

prize money and television money cannot

compete with the premier league but by

makeup ground on the likes of liverpool

and manchester united through their

enormous commercial and champions league

revenue

bayern are just about the most

consistent team in all of european

football routinely steamrolling their

way to the bundesliga title currently on

course to win their 10th successive

championship and it is almost 20 years

since they last failed to qualify from

the group stage of the champions league

in the last 11 seasons bayern have only

failed to reach the semi-final stage

four times reaching four finals during

that time and winning two of them

although bayern have by far the largest

wage bill in the bundesliga at around

350 million euros that puts them in line

with the big four spenders in the

premier league whilst trailing the likes

of barcelona real madrid and psg because

of their enormous revenue bine's wage

expenditure only actually equates to 54

of their turnover which is among the

lowest percentage of any champions

league team the end result is a profit

turning machine bayern have made a

profit every single year for the past

decade and that profit had been rising

pretty steadily until the pandemic hit

in total during that time bayern have

made a pre-tax profit of

366 million euros the most of any team

in world football

as such they deservedly take top spot in

this setting

so that is it for today's seven but

honorable mentions go to porto who are

the only major team to turn a

significant profit of 19 million euros

during the pandemic manchester city who

after years of heavy losses are now into

profitable territory along with the

likes of arsenal atalanta atletico

madrid brest sheffield united and

norwich city all of whom have turned

notable profits in recent years a shout

out also must go to a number of major

league soccer teams whose finances are a

little bit more opaque than european

teams but a number of whom are thought

to be profitable atlanta united seattle

sounders and la galaxy perhaps chief

among them

thank you all very much from the bottom

of my heart for watching today's video i

hope that you enjoyed it hit the like

button if that was the case let me know

your thoughts down below in the comments

and make sure you're subscribed and have

notifications turned on for hitc sevens

you can also find me on twitter and on

instagram via the username at hrtc7s on

both should you wish to do so