Paris (AFP)
Paris SG declared the third highest payroll in Europe in 2018, according to a report that UEFA published Thursday and which also points to the "significant" increase in revenue of the champion club of France.
The PSG, with 337 M EUR of wage bill, comes just behind the total of the emoluments paid by FC Barcelona (529 M EUR) and Real Madrid (431 M EUR), according to the data of the European authority gathered in its annual panorama of club football.
The club owned by the QSI investment fund QSI has not counted the expenses, increasing its payroll by 24% over a year. This increase coincides with the arrivals in the summer of 2017 of superstars Neymar and Kylian Mbappé, two of the best paid players on the continent.
But Monaco was even more generous over the same period (+ 34%). ASM spends more on salaries than it earns in revenue, according to UEFA.
The report also points to the "significant" growth in PSG turnover (+ 18%, to EUR 638 million in 2019) which allows it to rise to 5th place in Europe in the category.
These figures join those of Deloitte (635.9 M EUR) released on Tuesday and which place FC Barcelona at the top of the ranking with 840 M EUR in revenue.
The good performance of Olympique Lyonnais (EUR 221 million in revenue in 2019, + EUR 57 million in one year) is also cited by the body.
But overall, French clubs are doing worse than their European neighbors. Ligue 1 generated 1.7 billion in 2018, less than Italy (2.3 billion), Spain (3.1 billion), Germany (3.2 billion) and England (5.4 billion).
TV rights represent the main source of revenue, at 37%. The expected increase in these from 2020 (1.1 billion per year) suggests that the L1 is starting to catch up.
UEFA also ranks PSG in 6th place in terms of ticketing revenues (EUR 100 million). The club has the best stadium performance in Europe, generating EUR 93.3 per spectator per game.
But the L1 struggles in the matter: with 21.9 EUR per person per match, the French clubs are below the average (27.3 EUR), in a small ninth place.
© 2020 AFP