Hit By COVID-19, European Club Income Potentially Slashed By 6.3 Billion Euros

JAKARTA - The income of European clubs could be cut by up to 6.3 billion euros (approximately Rp.109 trillion) due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said the Chairman of the European Club Association (ECA) Andrea Agnelli.

The finances of football clubs on the Blue Continent have been hit badly because the health emergency has forced many countries to ban matches or reduce the number of spectators when the competition resumes.

"Without competition we do not have access to a number of posts in the financial balance and without those things that the system changed so unsustainable," said Agnelli, who is also Chairman of Juventus, in the board meeting of Serie A quoted by Antara on Friday, October 16th .

"We may only be able to review in detail the impact of this situation as a whole in the fall of 2021," he added.

The provisional calculation of the ECA includes lost ticket revenue, the impact of the emergency on medium to long-term commercial agreements and television rights contracts that must be renegotiated.

Meanwhile in La Liga, in early October Barcelona announced that it had suffered losses after tax cuts of 97 million euros (IDR1.67 trillion) during the 2019/2020 fiscal year.

In a written statement, the club generated revenues of 855 million euros, down 14 percent from the 990 million euros they earned in 2018/2019. Meanwhile, overall net debt doubled to 488 million euros.

The club said a loss of 47 million euros from lost ticket revenue, 35 million due to reduced club store sales and 18 million euros from stadium tours is expected to increase unless spectators return to the stadium.

The estimated revenue for 2020-2021 is 791 million euros.