Thread by @SwissRamble

After the decision to end the French football season, I thought that it might be interesting to look at the financial position of clubs in Ligue 1. This analysis will highlight the financial dominance of Paris-Saint Germain, who have won 7 league titles in 8 years.

Overall #Ligue1 is unprofitable, losing a total of €126m in 2018/19, a small improvement on the previous season’s €159m deficit. There has only been one profitable season in the last 8 years, which was 2015/16 which achieved a small €20m surplus.

However, 15 of the 20 #Ligue1 clubs were profitable (same as previous season) with the highest profit before tax reported by #PSG €32m, followed by Toulouse €12m and Lyon €8m. The problem was that 3 clubs reported heavy losses: Marseille €91m, Lille €67m and Bordeaux €26m.

It was pretty much the same story for #Ligue1 profit after tax, though it is worth noting that many of the clubs effectively broke-even. However, some clubs have accumulated significant losses over the last 3 years: Lille €249m, Marseille €212m and Bordeaux €61m.

#Ligue1 has recorded significant operating losses (i.e. excluding player sales and interest payable) over the past few years. This deficit has got much worse recently, widening from €276m in 2017 to €703m in 2019.

At an operating level virtually all #Ligue1 clubs make a loss with Monaco “leading the way” with €153m, followed by Marseille €109m and Lille €95m. #PSG and Lyon also lose money at this level with €41m and €55m respectively. The only exception is Nimes with €3m profit.

Profit on player sales has become increasingly important for #Ligue1 in the past two years with €840m in 2018 and €635m in 2019. In fact, the €1.475 bln reported in this period is more than the previous seven years combined €1.439 bln.

Four #Ligue1 clubs posted profit on player sales above €50m. Monaco led the way with €155m (mainly Lemar, Fabinho, Kongolo and Ghezzal), followed by Lyon €77m, #PSG €76m and Lille €54m. On the other hand, 7 clubs had profits less than €10m.

#Ligue1 revenue has grown by €417m (28%) in the last 3 years. All revenue streams have increased, but the main driver is broadcasting, up €245m (37%) to €901m, followed by sponsorship, up €90m (28%) to €415m. TV is 59% of total revenue, but gate receipts only 9% (€201m).

Before QSI arrived in 2011, #PSG €101m revenue was a fair bit lower than both Marseille €151m and Lyon €133m, but, following their stratospheric growth to €659m, it is now well over €400m more than their closest rivals: Lyon €221m, Marseille €130m and Monaco €112m.

#PSG alone generated around a third of total revenue in #Ligue 1 – more than the 14 clubs with the lowest revenue combined. Perhaps more tellingly, their revenue was also more than Lyon, Marseille, Monaco, Rennes and Saint-Etienne put together. As the saying goes, “mind the gap”.

France has two clubs in the Deloitte Money League, which ranks clubs globally by revenue. #PSG are in 5th place with €636m, sandwiched between Bayern Munich €660m and #MCFC €611m, while Lyon are 17th. The last time there were three #Ligue1 clubs in the top 20 was back in 2012.

As a technical aside, the Deloitte Money League revenue figure for #PSG €636m is different to the €659m used by the DNCG (the organisation responsible for monitoring accounts of football clubs in France), presumably due to the latter’s approach of aggregating company results.

#Ligue1 gate receipts have steadily increased from €124m in 2012 to €201m in 2019. This is the smallest revenue stream in France at just 9% of total revenue, though it varies between clubs, so is more important at some, e.g. Bordeaux 19%, Lyon 19%, Strasbourg 17% and Lille 16%.

Only four #Ligue1 clubs have gate receipts above €10m: #PSG €50m, Lyon €42m (benefiting from moving to the new Groupama stadium), Marseille €20m and Bordeaux £14m, accounting for over 60% of the division’s income. In fact, 11 clubs were below €5m.

Marseille registered the highest average attendance in France with 50,252, followed by Lyon 49,079, #PSG 46,911 and Lille 34,079. Sizeable revenue difference, mainly due to higher prices in Paris, especially corporates. 11 clubs had attendances below 20,000.

#Ligue1 broadcasting revenue has significantly risen in the last 3 years from €656m in 2016 to €901m in 2019. The 2017 increase was due to the new domestic French TV deal, while the 2019 increase was because of higher UEFA Champions/Europa League money.

#PSG had the highest broadcasting revenue in France with a total of €157m, followed by Lyon €122m and Monaco €76m. The influence of European qualification is evident here, as the top 6 clubs all competed in either the Champions League or Europa League.

#PSG earned €60m from Ligue 1 TV deal, ahead of Lyon €48m and Marseille €47m. This is distributed according to the 50-30-20 rule: 50% equal share (30% fixed, 20% according to club licences); 30% league standing (25% current season, 5% 5 previous seasons); 20% media profile.

#PSG and Lyon earned good money for reaching the Champions League last 16, receiving €86m and €70m respectively. They both have a solid UEFA coefficient (PSG €27m and Lyon €21m), while the French TV pool was only split between 3 clubs in 2018/19.

The sums earned by French clubs in the Europa League were much lower, though a useful differentiator against the rest of #Ligue1. Rennes received €20m for reaching the last 16, while Bordeaux and Marseille both got €12m, even though they did not get past the group stage.

Sponsorship and advertising has shot up from €184m in 2012 to €415m in 2019, though the biggest impact came back in 2014, when both #PSG and Monaco first benefited from higher sponsorships (though this was a one-off in the case of Monaco).

#PSG have by far the highest sponsorship & advertising revenue of €195m in #Ligue1, which is around €160m more than Marseille €37m and Lyon €31m. This is almost as much as the other 19 clubs combined (€217m).

However, that’s nothing compared to other commercial income where #PSG €257m is considerably more than any other #Ligue1 club, the closest being Lyon €26m & Marseille €15m. This is largely due to the hefty agreement with the Qatar Tourist Authority for a "publicity campaign".

In fact, the growth in #Ligue1 other commercial income has been almost entirely driven by #PSG’s innovative Qatar Tourist Authority deal, which increased the Parisians’ revenue here from €125m in 2012 to €270m in 2014, before falling to €205m the following year.

#Ligue1 wages have increased by €371m (36%) in the last 3 years, which is pretty much in line with revenue growth of €417m (28%), though the wages to turnover ratio rose (worsened) from 69% to 73%.

#PSG €371m wage bill represents 27% of the entire #Ligue1 payroll, an astonishing €224m more than the next highest, Monaco €147m. There are only two other clubs with wages above €100m, namely Lyon €131m and Marseille €127m. 12 clubs are below €50m.

Despite their huge wage bill, #PSG have one of the lowest (best) wages to turnover ratios in #Ligue 1 at 56%, only beaten by Amiens 54%. The worst ratios were registered at Monaco 132%, Lille 112% and Marseille 98%. 13 clubs are above UEFA’s recommended upper limit of 70%.

#Ligue1 transfer costs have really shot up in the last two years from €280m to €501m, comprising player amortisation €397m (up from €232m) and agents’ fees €104m (up from €48m).

Unsurprisingly, #PSG €123m player amortisation, the annual charge to write-down transfer fees over the length of a player’s contract, is by far the highest in France, nearly twice as much as Monaco €69m, followed by Lyon €52m and Marseille €43m.

#Ligue1 net debt was zero two years ago, as €387m gross debt was offset by the same amount of cash. However, this has risen to €240m in 2019, as gross debt has increased to €522m, while cash has dropped to €283m.

Two-thirds of the gross debt in #Ligue1 is at just two clubs, namely Lyon €222m and Lille €129m, mainly driven by their investment in new stadia. The next highest debt is Bordeaux with €38m. 12 clubs have less than €10m debt, including #PSG with zero financial liabilities.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but #PSG have the highest cash balance in #Ligue1 with €74m, twice as much as the closest challenger Lille €36m, followed by Saint-Etienne €29m and Marseille €17m. Half the division had less than €10m cash.

#Ligue1 transfer debt has grown to €470m, but this is essentially a selling league, so the receivable has shot up to €730m, giving a net receivable of €260m. It’s better not to owe money, but some clubs will be worried about others’ ability to pay their transfer debts.

Largest #Ligue1 transfer debt #PSG with €120m, followed by Monaco €89m, Marseille €51m & Lyon €41m. Main receivables are Monaco €228m, PSG €178m & Lyon €94m. Highest net receivables are Monaco €139m, PSG €58m & Lyon €53m; highest net debt Marseille €19m & Rennes €15m.

In summary, the majority of French clubs are run as self-sustaining businesses with relatively low debt, though a few have reported significant losses in recent years, namely Marseille, Lille and Bordeaux. #PSG are a huge outlier with by far the highest revenue and wages.

The LFP have this week confirmed that they will be receiving a €225m government loan to support clubs to make up for the shortfall linked to the termination of payments from #Ligue 1 broadcasters Canal + and BeIN Sports. Will be distributed to clubs in line with TV rights.