Major highlights from Barcelona’s financial audit: €900 million debt, COVID impact, and more | OneFootball

Barcelona CEO Ferran Riveter revealed the club’s financial audit publicly earlier today. The audit covered the financial accounts till the end of the 2020/21 financial year and will now be presented to the general assembly later this month.

The big takeaway from the release was the fact that Barcelona ended the financial year with a revenue of €631 million, well below the expected €828 million.

Riveter spoke to the press and revealed some critical information that explains the situation of the club on the economic front.

On the debt: “We have a debt of €900 million, of which €124 million are urgent.”

On the situation of the club at their takeover: “We inherited a debt from the previous club management, a club that owes one billion Euros.”

On the situation in April: “Last April the club could not work because there were no Euros in the fund!”

On the Arthur-Pjanic swap: “The Arthur Pjanix deal that was supposed to save budget records cost the club €8.5 million.”

On the salaries of players: “Four players of the first team have salaries over €300 million.”

On the situation, the old board created: “We found a catastrophic sports system and a huge salary bill. We pay 30% more salaries than 50% of European clubs.”

On the jump in debt: “The club’s debt jumped from €159 in 2017 to €673 million in 2021 without holding a general meeting so as to not be exposed.”

On the reduction in wage bill: “We wanted to reduce the salaries by €159 million, but we only managed to reduce them by €69 million.”

The major takeaways from the club’s official statement:

Barça is revealed to have closed the 2020/21 financial year with revenue of €631 million, well below the €828 million set in the budget.

The operating revenue figure of €631 million in 2020/21 represents -26% less than the €855 million of the previous year.

The result of the 2020/21 season without the impact of COVID-19 would have been -€390 million.

The most affected area in terms of loss of revenue has been the Stadium, which has made €25 million in revenue (-84% compared to the previous year).

€282 million have been raised in media and TV rights revenue, but this was -14% down on the previous year.

In the Others and Transfers section, with an income of €56 million, there was a decrease of €92 million with respect to the previous year caused mainly by poorer outcomes from player transfer operations.

Operating expenses have increased by 19% compared to the previous season, from €955 million to €1,136 million. This is either due to agreements between the previous board and the players or savings in administrative expenses as a result of not opening the Stadium or its stores.

The net debt on 30 June 2021 and according to the criteria set out by the LFP, is €680 million.

The losses of €481 million in the 2020/21 financial year have led to a negative balance of €451 million at the end of June, in terms of net worth.

Source: FC Barcelona/BarçaTV+