The Financial Crisis in European Football: An Introduction

Abstract

Is there currently a crisis in European professional football? Surely there exists a common set of problems afflicting clubs, with negative financial implications for all. Moreover, a crisis in one large club or group of clubs threatens to damage the financial stability of other clubs. This introduction reviews the financial crises in football in several European countries, searches for common explanations of these crises, and proposes a few solutions, ranging from tighter financial regulation to the restructuring of competition, with the aim of easing the financial burden for smaller clubs in particular.

On March 12, 2004, a group of economists representing 11 of the national associations of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) met under the auspices of the University of Bologna at Rimini, Italy, to discuss the present financial state of football clubs in Europe. This introduction summarizes the conclusions of the group and sets the scene for the articles on specific European football leagues that follow. Our conclusions can be grouped under three distinct headings: (a) Is there currently a crisis? (b) What are the causes of the current financial problems of football clubs? and (c) What are the solutions?