Revenues for Germany’s 18 top flight clubs have risen for a seventh straight year to 1.94 billion euros ($A2.42 billion) in the 2010-11 season, the country’s football league DFL said on Wednesday as it unveiled its Bundesliga Report.
The record figure represents an increase of almost 10 per cent, from the 1.77 billion euros raised in the previous campaign. DFL chief executive officer Christian Seifert said he expects the 2-billion euros mark to be reached next year.
Bundesliga revenues have now risen by 24 per cent over the past five years, with the DFL saying Germany’s top league remains the second strongest league by revenue behind the English Premier League.
“Professional football continues to have a strong outlook of remaining a success story, also because the Bundesliga is as popular as never before with fans, sponsors and media partners,” Seifert said.
Seifert said the Bundesliga had reached another attendance record in 2010-11, with an average of 42,101 fans per game.
The league is back in the black after generating net income of 52.5 million euros, compared with a deficit of 78 million euros in 2009-10. At the same time, liabilities were reduced by 7.9 per cent to 593.8 million euros, while 12 of the 18 clubs were making a profit.
Despite improved cost control measures, German clubs have enjoyed success on the continent, for instance by regaining third place from Italy in the five-year rankings of the ruling body UEFA. The ranking determines, among other things, the number of teams that each national league can send to the European Champions League.
“These sporting successes were largely achieved by conservative spending, as the current Bundesliga Report shows,” DFL president Reinhard Rauball said in the report.
“Whereas some clubs abroad paid for their titles with annual losses in the range of three-digit millions, the Bundesliga clubs managed to generate a total profit of around 52 million euros,” Rauball said.