The Global State of Football Report

The Global State of Football Report is an analysis of 195 teams (including FC Bayern München, Manchester City Football Club, Manchester United, Real Madrid C.F. etc.) across 13 leagues for the 2023/2024 season on metrics such as squad quality, recruitment, performance, results and finance to reveal not just who wins, but how they win – and at what cost. The study was completed by Dr. Florian Hohmann from the Institute for Accounting, Controlling and Auditing at the University of St.Gallen (ACA-HSG) and PLAIER, the world’s leading AI technology in football. At the foundation of the findings is PLAIER’s AI technology which correlates billions of data points from one of the world’s largest football databases to deliver accurate insights and analysis on players and squads.

This is believed to be the largest and most comprehensive study on the economic sporting performance of top football clubs. “This report is a milestone in global football business. Our analysis combines financial data and performance analytics to precisely monitor each team’s quality on the pitch and decision making off of it”, said Jan Wendt, CEO of PLAIER. “Many clubs in Europe do not use financial resources efficiently or they spend beyond their means. With our innovative analysis, we can show this clearly,” said HSG senior lecturer of Financial Management Dr. Florian Hohmann. “Fans have had little insight into the financial risks clubs undertake and how efficiently money is spent. This study bridges that gap as we provide a data-driven, objective analysis of how well clubs convert financial resources into squad strength and success.”

Swiss Super League

Looking at the Swiss Super League, FC St.Gallen and BSC Young Boys were the only financially stable clubs consistently showing sufficient capital. All other Swiss Super Leagues clubs were dependent on investment and struggle to generate consistent and sufficient profit.

BSC Young Boys generated the greatest revenue thanks to regular participation in the Champions League and have managed to build a solid equity base in recent years by retaining profits.

At the other end of the spectrum, Grasshopper Club Zürich were the worst performers in the league and amongst the 10 most financially instable clubs in Europe. They spend more on players than have in revenue.

Other highlights include:

• Unsurprisingly, BSC Young Boys and FC Basel were the two teams to lead the domestic Financial Power rankings. FC Winterthur had the least financial resources available among teams.
• The most successful clubs with regards to building the best squad possible with the money they have was FC Winterthur and Servette FC. Both rank well at turning the money they have into good players.

European overview

Looking at other European leagues across the continent, the German Bundesliga is the most financially stable league. 16 of the 18 clubs in 2023/2024 recorded above financial stability.

It was also noted that the English Championship is a money burning machine and was the lowest ranked. Looking further at financial instability, it was found that among the top five leagues, the Premier League, Serie A and Ligue 1 were similarly instable on average with most clubs landing in the C, D or F grade range.

Financial Power

The top 10 sides for Financial Power across all analyzed leagues were Paris Saint-Germain, FC Barcelona, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Real Madrid, FC Bayern München, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal.

Six of the 10 teams which spent the most money on squads came from England while the Premier League is the competition with the highest Financial Power score at an average of about 89.8 out of 100.

Another interesting finding discovered that the Scottish Premiership was the league with the biggest relative gap between the highest and lowest clubs while PSV is ranked as the most efficient club for turning Financial Power into results across all leagues analyzed.

Download the Global State of Football Report.

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