Commercial income powers Europe's richest clubs as financial divide widens, study shows

MADRID, Oct 22 : Europe's richest football clubs have built a commercial engine that generates almost half their income, helping underpin an expanding financial elite whose membership has proved harder to change than its revenues, a study shows.

The report by consultancy Football Benchmark and World Football Summit charts two transformations: commercial income has displaced broadcasting as the leading revenue source for the highest earners, while growth across European football has failed to narrow the financial divide.

Commercial and other income accounted for 49 per cent of operating revenue at the 10 highest-earning clubs in 2024/25, compared with 32 per cent in 2008/09. Broadcasting, including UEFA distributions, fell from 42 per cent to 32 per cent, and stadium and matchday income from 27 per cent to 19 per cent.

Those are declining shares of a much larger business, not evidence of falling receipts. The top 10's combined operating revenue more than tripled over those 16 years, from 2.7 billion euros to 8.4 billion.

The shift came in two stages.

Commercial income overtook broadcasting in the early 2010s. Up to 2018/19, its gains came largely at the expense of matchday income, whose share fell to 16 per cent, while broadcasting’s slipped only to 40 per cent. The report says that phase coincided with the digitalisation and internationalisation of football through social media and new digital platforms.

Since the pandemic, broadcasting has given ground instead, its share falling from 38 per cent in 2021/22 to 32 per cent in 2024/25, while matchday income has recovered. The commercial category includes other income and should not be read as sponsorship alone.

GROWTH WITHOUT CONVERGENCE

The study draws on UEFA financial reports,