German first and second division football clubs have lost more than €1 billion in total since the start of the Covid pandemic. This finding was announced by the German Football League (DFL) on Friday April 1, when presenting its annual report.
For the 2020-2021 season, “the overall revenue of the two championships fell by more than 750 million euros compared to the last season before the pandemic, falling from 4.8 to 4.05 billion euros“, DFL President Donata Hopfen says in her introduction. “The drop in turnover after the first two seasons affected by Covid-19, 2019/20 and 2020/21, exceeds one billion euros“, she specifies.
The 2022 DFL Economic Report: Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 see a total downturn in revenue in excess of more than one billion euros since the start of the pandemic ➡️ https://t.co/E924IchayP pic.twitter.com/xaMXvku1t9
— DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga (@DFL_Official) April 1, 2022
This shortfall comes mainly from matches played behind closed doors or in front of a reduced audience, while all German stadiums have not yet regained their full capacity, two years after the start of the pandemic.
However, stadium attendance is tending to return to normal, as can be seen in Dortmund. Two years and a month after its last match in front of a full stadium, the BVB will finally find, on Saturday April 2, its full audience and its famous “Yellow Wall”, for the reception of Leipzig in the 28th day of the Bundesliga.
The situation has had a very strong impact on employment, with the number of professional football employees falling by around 50%, to 26,183 employees from 52,786 in 2019/20. Indirect jobs, including match day services, fell by 80%.
The era of self-evident growth seems over
Donata Hopfen
In addition, media rights and marketing revenues also fell last season. “We are facing an unprecedented situation“, believes Ms. Hopfen, “the era of self-evident growth seems to be over“.
This observation, she suggests, could have repercussions on the development of German football, and possibly on the method of financing clubs, in a country which still prohibits a single investor from seizing the controlling majority. within a club.