The overall deficit of French football clubs was 250 million euros for the 2023-24 season, reveals the president of the National Directorate of Management Control (DNCG), Jean-Marc Mickeler, in an interview posted online Friday evening by The Team.
In a long interview given to the daily L’Equipe, the boss of the National Directorate of Management Control (DNCG) Jean-Marc Mickeler draws up the financial picture of French football. And it’s not shiny.
As of June 30, 2024, he announced, the operating loss of French clubs was “of the order of one billion euros, offset by very good sales with 830 million euros of capital gains on sales of players”.
“Which generates a net loss of around 250 million euros (150 in L1, 100 in L2),” he explains. The boss of the financial policeman of French football calls on clubs to quickly tackle their payroll.
“At the DNCG, we think in any case that the absolute priority for our clubs between now and next May is to reduce payrolls,” he said, explaining that they are in proportions well above the European average (“ When we look at all the clubs monitored by UEFA, he indicates, there is a payroll/income ratio of 53%. In France, it is 67%.”)
A drop in TV rights “neither surprising nor exceptional”
Asked to say if he fears bankruptcies, he replies: “The DNCG is concerned. It shares this concern with the managers and shareholders of the clubs.” “Money is not everything. Everyone will have to be convinced of that. The economic model as it existed is dead.”
Because, he specifies, losses should further increase this season due to the decline in revenue, particularly linked to the expiry of sums owed by the CVC investment fund, partner of the League, and to the reduction in TV rights. The revenues brought to French football by CVC, which acquired 13% of the commercial subsidiary of the LFP in exchange for a total sum of 1.5 billion euros, will fall as expected this season, where the clubs “do not will have more than the balance, i.e. 136 million euros.
Regarding the reduction in TV rights, sold to the DAZN platform and beIN Sports compared to around 500 million euros per season for their domestic component, he believes that it is “neither surprising nor exceptional” given the global context. “The net rights deficit (TV) will amount to 96 million for the 2024-2025 season. This amount, although substantial, should not plunge French football into an existential crisis if the economic model remains under control,” estimates he.
