Europe home to the most valuable football leagues with the UK driving performance

Research by Alliance Fund has revealed that European football is by far the most lucrative where total revenue is concerned and while the UK sits top of the league in terms of the sum of this total revenue, it’s Spain where football is arguably the most influential from a business point of view.

Alliance Fund analysed the total revenues made from association football across the globe before looking at what this total revenue equates to when compared to the GDP of each nation.

The research shows that Europe is the dominant force within football with regard to total revenue, generating over £19.6bn per year.

The fast emerging North American market sits second where total revenue generated from football sits at £1.768bn, albeit 91% below the total revenue generated across Europe.

Total revenue generated from football across Asia comes in at £1.292bn, while at the other end of the table, it sits at a comparatively low £47.5m across Africa.

With the Premier League widely accepted as the best in the world, it’s no surprise that it’s the UK driving this far superior European performance. Total revenue generated across the EPL, Championship, League 1 and 2 and the Scottish Premiership is currently £6.284bn per year.

Only Germany (£3.371bn) and Spain (£3.189bn) come close to the level of total revenue generated across the UK game, although they remain substantially off the pace set by the UK.

The research by Alliance Fund shows that the £6.284bn generated via UK football leagues is equivalent to 0.28% of the nation’s GDP. While this may not sound significant, the value added by the UK’s entire agricultural sector equates to 0.7% of GDP, providing some context as to just how big a business football has become in the UK.

In fact, when analysing total football revenues as an equivalent percentage of GDP across Europe just one nation sits above the UK. The £3.189bn generated via football leagues across Spain is equivalent to 0.31% of the country’s annual GDP.

CEO of Alliance Fund, Iain Crawford, commented:

“European football as a business is by far the most lucrative on a global scale and nowhere more so than the UK, where the total revenue generated eclipses even Spain and Germany.

We’re lucky enough to have what is arguably the best league in the world and this not only attracts the best players, but also the big money, whether it be via sponsorship, broadcasting rights and more.

However, it’s fair to say that these revenue opportunities aren’t evenly distributed between the top flight and lower leagues and we’re now seeing teams turn to alternative investment paths, such as issuing bonds, to help level the financial playing field.

So despite the UK already leading the world in terms of the revenues gained through football, there remains a wealth of opportunities with regard to investing into the beautiful game for those at all financial levels.”

Alliance Fund launches sport investment fund

Alliance Fund is launching a dedicated sports investment fund to sit alongside their existing real estate-focussed offering to support this emerging funding process and to help UK football clubs with short-mid-term cash flow requirements,

The fund is due to launch in February 2023 and will focus on clubs in League 1 and above.