Arsenal have retained 11th place in Deloitte’s annual list of football’s richest clubs, however, the 24th edition of the report estimates the Gunners revenue dropped by £57.2 million over the course of the last year as a result of Covid-19.
While the full financial ramifications of the pandemic may not be realised for years to come, Deloitte estimate that the top 20 clubs saw collective revenue fall from €9.3 billion to €8.2 billion, a drop of 12%.
Sp*rs (€445.7m), Chelsea (9th, €469.7m), Manchester City (6th, €549.2m), Liverpool (5th, €558.6m) and Manchester United (4th, €580.4m) make up the five Premier League sides above us.
Despite an estimated downturn in revenue of €125.7 million, Barcelona (€715.1m) still top the list ahead of Real Madrid (€714.9).
You might recall, former CEO Ivan Gazidis proudly announcing in 2013 that, “We should be able to compete at a level like a club such as Bayern Munich.”
Well, the gap on the reigning Bundesliga and Champions League winners is now €246.1 million. Bayern’s on-pitch success and the fact the Bundesliga completed its domestic season before the end of June helped swallow much of the losses. They’re only €26 million down on last year and third on the list; the highest they’ve ever been.
Arsenal’s performance, key takeaways:
- Arsenal’s revenue fell by 13% to £340.3 million in 2019/20.
- No fans at the Emirates following football’s restart led to matchday revenue declining £17.6m (18%).
- Broadcast revenue dropped by £66.2m (36%).
- Commercial revenue, thanks to the new adidas arrangement and an extension of the Emirates deal, increased by £31.7m (29%).
- Commercial revenue made up 42% of the total. Usually, it’s dwarfed by broadcast revenue.
- Arsenal’s revenue in 2020 is approximately €100 million down on where we were when the 2017 report was released.
Europe’s top 20 richest clubs
1. Barcelona (€715.1m)
2. Real Madrid (€714.9m)
3. Bayern Munich (€634.1m)
4. Manchester United (€580.4m)
5. Liverpool (€558.6m)
6. Manchester City (€549.2m)
7. Paris Saint-Germain (€540.6m)
8. Chelsea (€469.7m)
9. Sp*rs (€445.7m)
10. Juventus (€397.9m)
11. Arsenal (€388m)
12. Borussia Dortmund (€365.7m)
13. Atletico Madrid (€331.8m)
14. Inter Milan (€291.5m)
15. Zenit St Petersburg (€236.5m)
16. Schalke (€222.8m)
17. Everton (€212m)
18. Lyon (€180.7m)
19. Napoli (€176.3m)
20. Eintracht Frankfurt (174m)
In addition to the full report, @SwissRamble has penned an easy-to-follow breakdown of the key stats.
The 2019/20 season was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a £1.0 bln (12%) fall in revenue of the top 20 Money League clubs from £8.2 bln to £7.2 bln. Broadcast and match day fell £822m (23%) and £227m (17%) respectively, though commercial rose £87m (3%). pic.twitter.com/VOlAhrF982
— Swiss Ramble (@SwissRamble) February 22, 2021
To be below spuds is an absolute disgrace. Considering the clubs’ relative position not just two decades ago, but one. It is staggering just how poorly managed we have been since then. An utter, utter shit show. No surprised many of the rats responsible have jumped ship. It is a long road back, but the biggest club in the biggest city in Europe should never ever be this far down this table. I don’t care what you say. It makes me sick.
Actually, less than a decade ago we were behind only Man Utd in this country and we’re in the top six in Europe so you can see the tremendous decline in our relative financial position over that period. Unfortunately, things aren’t likely to improve, particularly if we don’t get European football next season.
We were ranked 3 most valuable football club in the world by Forbes between 2007-2012 above everyone bar Man Utd and Real Madrid.
We consolidated our position by recruiting the likes of Squillaci, Chamahk and Gervinho.
Absolute criminal mismanagement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbes%27_list_of_the_most_valuable_football_clubs
Poor player purchases are part of the issue, and resulted in falling out of Europe. But also a major problem is lack of growth in other commercial areas. Arsenal have done worse than rivals in generating sponsorship revenue and also in exploiting global markets.
Because we weren’t competitive on the pitch
Thank Gazidis for this downfall. He focussed more on blaming Wenger for everything rather than improving revenue streams.
Liverpool, without CL football, were getting better shirt deals than Arsenal.
The current management is amazing, most likely Everton will replace us soon. Arsenal are now a mid table team, accept the reality.
Trying to single out individuals as scapegoats is pretty much how we got here. This has been a mighty collective effort.
Exactly, it was a collective effort, with all parties fully signed up to the project!
The club are now learning the hard way the difference between being a participant and being a contender. Going from the later to the former is easy, the other way round not so much.
Spot on.
It doesn’t take the Wenger Out mob long to crawl from under their stones and start blaming the man who achieved far more for this club than any other.
Almost no one disputes how incredible his achievements here were. And the majority of people who believed he should have gone are still overall very fond of him as a manager and a person But in the 2nd half of his time here his work in the transfer market, and sometimes lack of it, led to a massive decline in the quality of our squad. Which yes, he did well to keep in the top 4 for as long as he did, but which left his successors with little chance He’s far from the only reason we are where we… Read more »
Well, I’ll refer you to Vonnie, whose comments regarding Wenger would probably get him a lifetime subscription on a certain ‘fan’ tv media.
As for your comments regarding Wenger, I trust you’ve been enjoying this seasons adventures – Willian, 16th in the table and the cure for insomnia that is LEGO ball – with aplomb.
Pls do go to fener with your boy
AC Milan is doing tremendously well with him there. Though I won’t entirely credit him alone as much as I’d like to advise you likewise on blaming a particular individual for something as big as a clubs’ trajectory.
What’s well clear is our demise started exactly when the long standing shareholders sold off the club to gain a handsome personal profit – yet nobody mentions this at all.
#CollectiveFuckUppery
And whose ‘criminal mismanagement’ got us up there in the Forbes top 3 in the first place……?
Because we sure as Hell weren’t there in the summer of ‘96.
Honestly….. people on here slagging Wenger off against the standards that he himself set. How thick can you get….
The club benefitted greatly from being the biggest club in one of the richest cities in the world, that’s mainly how they got there, geography.
The club would openly mock the fans come season ticket renewal time by telling everyone how long the waiting list was. Only our unique geography allowed the club to treat the fan’s so contemptuously, almost anywhere else would have seen a dramatic decline in match day revenue.
Funny how you didn’t take your customary pop at Wenger this time…..
Yeah, it sucks and we have clearly made horrific errors in recruitment of players and staff. We know it’s been hopeless and Willian is testament to the fact we are not out of the woods when it comes to terrible money management. But I’ve never been one to lose too much sleep over the balance books. I feel like our standing in world football is still strong. The loan deals of Ceballos and Odegaard are proof of this. We are in the shit. Just as United were a few seasons back. We are almost perfectly following their post legacy manager… Read more »
I don’t think the loan deals are proof of the strength of our standing in the game, arguably they are a sign of our relative weakness. In the past you would expect them to be permanent signings but arguably we’re now more of a stepping stone/proving ground for others. Our decline from even 5 years ago has been startling and the failures start at the top, percolating down to the managers. Millions squandered on poor transfer decisions, incomings and outgoings, and a lack of vision for competing with the top teams. Competing for CL again, and dare we say it,… Read more »
We’ve always been a stepping stone. Even after the invincibles we had to fight to keep players from joining Barca and Madrid. Unless we win everything for a decade or two, we will never match the absolute biggest teams. And yeah, plenty to be pissed off about. We also have to contend with teams like Everton, West Ham, Sp*rs and Leicester massively overachieving. These teams are having a good season or two. They won’t forever. We are at one of our lowest ebbs and we could catch most of them. That’s what high standards are. Being shit but not being… Read more »
I don’t think we could really be called a stepping stone if we were challenging for the title and playing CL football, even if some of our absolute world class players went to European giants. At any rate, we’re well off that now. Whereas before our best players would leave to start for the best teams in Europe, now our best players would probably be prospects or maybe rotational pieces. And there are far fewer of them now. Would also think it would be a little foolhardy to write off some of the teams you’ve mentioned as overachieving, especially Everton… Read more »
At least we were a stepping stone then.
Today, no one wants any of our players. We have let go of so many players for free, while paying King’s ransom for Pepe and Willian
Kroenke will sell us once we become the new Charlton
That’s fair enough mate. You’re allowed to feel however you like.
It might seem like naivety to you. But if watching some sport with hopeful optimism while not losing it every time I see an accountants spreadsheet is what it takes to carry on happily supporting this club, then I’m glad to do it.
Got enough going on in our own lives without turning this into an ungodly slog too.
That’s fair enough as well, and maybe naive is the wrong word to use. I just wish we were better!
But you haven’t even called each other names yet…..
Fair play for having a civil debate.
With LEGO ball at the helm, why wouldn’t any of us be anything other than asleep – giants or otherwise.
LEGO ball! Ooooh nurse, quick, my sides are splitting…
Man United are a far bigger club than us, no less commercially where they are an absolute monster. Absorbing a few seasons out of the champions league had very little effect on their player recruitment. Arsenal most likely finishing 10th and paying champions league wages is absolutely unsustainable and will bankrupt this club a lot quicker than people think.
Well, if any Gooners doubt how serious our financial position is (and there are some judging by responses I and a few others have received on this site) hopefully this will show our decline. Remember, less than a decade ago we were second in this country and in the top six in Europe in these tables. If that doesn’t give pause for thought, it should.
It is now too late to show the financial results to Ozil.
So Ozil was responsible for Covid 19 too…? I daresay this season was his fault too – in spite of the fact he wasn’t allowed to play.
And before any of you Ozil hating cretins out there start with the ever boring “move on/shut up” crap, might I suggest that if you don’t want me to respond to posts about Ozil, quit fucking bringing the subject up. 🙄
Uhm, nobody wants you to respond to any posts…self awareness is such an underrated trait…
This a million times over pls
Arsenal has gone to the dogs, and then to the glue factory. We were one of the first teams to move to a huge modern stadium for.. this? To be so ahead of the game in 2006, with so many sacrifices from noble friends of the club. It’s just astonishing how far the ball was dropped. The last game against man city really rammed this home for me. We have fallen so far as to just accept a weak, limp home loss where we barely turn up as par for the course before a ball is even kicked. Many people… Read more »
Who are these noble friends of the club you speak of? Would these be the same noble friends who sold this club down the river to kronke to line their own pockets?
No not Dein, previous to that colossal investor fuckup. The whole stadium project. Fiszman, Wenger himself clearly sacrificed a lot and many more were involved
According to the latest article on here we actually did a decent account of ourselves against Man City – unfortunately after we conceeded!!!
Arsenal’s decisions from 2006 are analogous to economies that choose austerity over borrowing. We choose austerity, save money and reduce debt, and we lost ground. Clubs that were more ambitious in borrowing and spending climbed the ladder while we fell. FFP was supposed to regulate on our side, but it failed. It is not the only factor, our transfer market failings had a big impact as well, while clubs like Leicester and Liverpool played the market and recruited really well.
This, but people are too stupid to see whats happened to the club over the years. Arsenal’s decline is because we sacrificed the quality of our on pitch player assets at the expense of our bricks and mortar assets when there was absolutely no need to, in fact it was complete and utter madness. It was a decision that appeared to be made based on the level of inflation in transfer fees which made it even more stupid because Arsenal’s revenue streams, bar TV rights, weren’t keeping up. This meant that when we had no choice but to start competing… Read more »
What’s the deal with the commercial side of things? For a club this big, we’re below average in this department. Seems like very poor business.
You’re right there. The commercial revenues of the club have always been poor in comparison to most of the other so-called “big clubs” in this country at least. It has improved in absolute terms over the years of course, but relatively it’s still behind. The problem now is that we’re not considered a particularly successful “brand” so new deals, Covid aside, will be less favourable – especially if we don’t get European football. That won’t improve our position.
We are a global club but not anywhere near the likes of Liverpool and Man Utd in true global reach. I remember Liverpool selling out an 80,000 seater stadium in Australia on a pre-season tour…. I doubt we will be able to do the same.
If you earn £40,000 p/a
or £1,000,000 p/w
If your outgoing commitments exceed your incoming revenue, then it’s unsustainable over time
We were haemorrhaging money before COVID, Arsenal are in a position where we can’t afford to invest
KSE are now in a position where they can’t afford not to invest
It’s funny, I saw a list just today showing the worth of club owners worldwide.
We were 6th at £9bn. Ahead of Pool, Spuds and PSG.
Make of that what you will.
I read that he dropped 1.4 billion in wealth last year … way to go, Arsenal!
Stan still has 8bn and so does his wife…that’s a combined income of 16bn…I don’t think they’ll starve.
Kroenke’s owner ship is the main cause of the decline. He maybe mega rich but has no passion for football let alone Arsenal. I will be amazed if we manage to reach our former hights under his ownership. Although i dislike Abramovich and Cities oil rich ownership you do need your club to be owned by someone with a love for the game and their club.
While Kroenke’s name may not be associated with politically sanctioned violence, I hope we as supporters realise that our ownership is not without controversy (1) Two workers died in 2020 due to accidents whilst working on the LA-Rams So-Fi stadium development. Not a single statement was made by any of the KSE management. (2) His real-estate firm has previously issued eviction notices (without warning) for residents of land he has purchased. (3) His company runs a blood-sport hunting channel in which enthusiasts compete to kill endangered African wildlife species just for the sake of it. (4) He’s a beneficiary of… Read more »
Our revenues, wage bill, net spend over last 5 years or so are all within the top 6 in the league. Our league position should at least reflect that. The fact that it doesn’t shows how badly managed we are in terms of upper management.
Not quite true. The wage bill is – and remains – too high in respect to our revenues almost ever since we failed to qualify for CL football. We have been trying to run a CL wage bill on EL income as someone said – and we may not have EL income for much longer.
People used to slag Arsene for caring about shit like this. And mocked him for supposedly being happy with just Champions League qualification year after year. Fuck you #WengerOut. That is all.
Strangely this lot is happy with a serial loser like Arteta, boggles the mind. For me, they are not Arsenal supporters, never were and never will be, they are just detractors who want to see Arsenal in the dumps, and keep us here.
What a ridiculous comment.
Sad as it is, Arsene played his part in this downfall as well.
Yes, that’s true. Overall, I think his efforts on the financial side (keeping us in the CL largely, but also the early/earlier transfer deals as well) were positive. There were negatives though – the over-priced transfers with their over-paid deals towards the end of his stay which have been a considerable drag financially – until we paid most of them to go in recent months. Also, he presided over the relative decline of the club – not just in top honours but in terms of European (CL) qualification (which was and continues to be a real financial issue).
Sad as it is, so called fans are still blaming this club’s most successful manager for the current mess that is on Arteta, Edu and, as usual, the Kroenkes.
Yes – and (a smaller) no. Wenger’s efforts in keeping us in the CL for so long were a great boost financially no doubt about that. However, a lot of the over-priced transfers and subsequent wage deals towards the end of his time with the club hung a financial albatross around the necks of subsequent managers. Only recently has the club managed to offload several of these players, by paying them to leave! Collectively, they cost the club many £millions over the years that they were with us. Overall, AW’s efforts were clearly more positive financially – but there were… Read more »
People used to slag off Wenger because he saw big profits and champions league qualification as a win when it wasn’t and the club was drifting further and further away from ever winning.
This is how far we’ve drifted.
What do mean ‘used to’ slag off’…?
They still are – despite the comedy gold that’s gone on at the club since Wenger left.
Yes, the Wenger who stashed all the money and refused to buy players while they were reasonably cheap and then wouldn’t because they were too expensive for his liking. If Villa, Leicester and Everton were playing like they are now he would never have made top four. We’ve been left behind and we’re clawing our way back, he started the decline.
And whose managerial heights have we declined from..?
Take your time, mate…
We are going downhill but you know what I still love Arsenal!
How the hell are we behind sp*rs!??
We ruined a great team by moving to the new stadium to improve our finances, and yet sp*urs have just spent £1b on a new stadium they can’t even have supporters inside and they’re STILL above us???
HOWWWWWWWW??????
Sp*rs attracted a huge surge in commercial income because of the new stadium (as we did when The Emirates opened). Our commercial revenues were always ahead of theirs prior to their stadium opening but sponsors like to see their name associated with big, shiny new stadiums – and the hope of success (at least) that usually goes with it. Their wage bill was/is also much more in line with income than ours has been. However, Sp*rs overall debt position combined with lack of match-day revenue thanks to Covid are reasons why they have had to take out a large short-term… Read more »
Thanks Arsene Wenger!!
We are slowly realizing that you were not the issue rather others. You were loyal and stayed loyal to us but we didn’t realize it. Our decision to let go of David Dein (a person who was a supporter and ambitious board member) was the turning point. Arsene you just slowed down the process of us returning to mediocrity. [before jumping on an bashing do some research our average positioning in the league was 2.95 without him 7.5]
One reason why Dein left was that he apparently disagreed with the (then) plans to move to a new stadium. Wenger was the great champion of the move to raise income to compete with the top teams at that time – Utd, Liverpool mainly. The (terrible?) irony is, of course, that the move happened at the start of a period when several other clubs were acquired by wealthy owners who pumped in money. That made the additional income we got from our new stadium largely irrelevant – and we were saddled with a large debt for it as well. So,… Read more »
So, basically you agree with me that Wenger kept us steady instead of heading in decline as was expected. Problem was Dein was replaced by incompetent overpaid people like Gazidiz and board sold to Kroenke the ******. If Dein’s idea to sell to Usmanovic was heeded we may have had a better time because then Wenger would have been able to focus on one thing instead of everything.
We are a club in massive decline both On and Off the pitch and the signs all indicate we will decline even further . Don’t see us being in top 4 for the next couple seasons without some intelligent investment in the squad. The top 4 will never be easily accomplished again and will be tougher every season and the so called mid table clubs are getting good financially and playing Bette football. It would be a massive accomplishment if Arsenal manage to finish in top 4 in the next 5 years, let alone challenge for the league. As a… Read more »
True wenger had so much on his plate trying to balance the finances of the club and selling his best players. It must have been so frustrating for him in the prime of his career that the players never showed the same loyality to the club he did.
I think he done a great job keeping us in the top 4 all those years.
“Arsenal’s revenue in 2020 is approximately €100M down on where we were when the 2017 report was released”. COVID began in February 2020, so what happened in 2018 and 2019? The decline in revenue in those years is a direct result of no CL money, which in turn, is a direct result of Wenger’s managerial decline and a decade of administrative rot at the club. Edu and Arteta are rebuilding a football club, not just a team.
Rebuilding….?!
So that’s what taking us down to 16th and playing Willian game in game out is…..?!!
🤣
Covid aside, it’s no coincidence this has occurred during KSE’s ownership. Parasites sucking this club dry.
A majority shareholder who doesn’t give a shit about the club, a Technical Director who can’t get his paperwork done on time and a manager who omits his best creative midfielder and oversees our worst league campaign for forty years.
And now we’re behind Spurs in the rich list – a club about to celebrate 60 years without a league title.
Embarrassing? You don’t say…….
I’d be careful drawing too many conclusions from the list…Schalke is on it. 1) That Kroenke may be on some rich list does not mean he will necessarily over extend on Arsenal since he has fingers in so many other pies and believes the club should be self sustaining. Last summer window, he put money in to extent financing to bring in Partey otherwise we would not have concluded on that panic deal having messed up trying to bring Aouar down on price. 2) These things have a compounding effect. We ave been poorly managed bc we have appointed bad… Read more »
How the fuck are we behind Spurs, we must have the chuckle brothers running our commercial side FFS. SHOCKING, but not surprising as anything the Yanks touch goes down hill quicker then Eddie the Eagle.