The Finances of Football Associations in Britain and Ireland

by Sean O'Connor

Information on and interest in football clubs’ finances have grown considerably over the years, to the point whole financial reports have been published on them. One of the most well known and anticipated is the “Deloitte Football Money League”. This yearly report, now in its 17th edition provides a detailed analysis of clubs’ financial performance over the course of a season.

However, while financial information on clubs is generally easy to access, information on national associations’ performance generally goes undocumented, at least in a comparable sense.  Fortunately a large level of information on national associations’ financial performance is readily available and with this in mind I’m going to examine a number of financial measures for the football associations of England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland from 2003-2012

Turnover or revenue highlights monies received by each association from ticket sales, sponsorship deals, television rights, qualification for tournaments etc.  Although all associations are generating a greater level of turnover in 2012 than that recorded in 2003 (or 2006 for Northern Ireland), none can match the capabilities of England. This is no surprise when you factor in the revenue streams that the FA has to call upon in comparison with the other associations. Qualification for major championships, multi-million pound sponsorship deals with Budweiser, Vauxhall as well as the TV rights to the FA Cup mean England are a juggernaut with regards to revenue generation. Surprising is Ireland’s impressive performance on turnover throughout the period. A doubling of revenue in the FAI from 2003 to 2012 is a significant achievement given the interim period didn’t see the nation qualify for a major tournament (they did qualify for the European Championships in  2012), which usually brings with it increased sponsorship revenue.

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Retained Profit refers to the profit left to an association once all costs and taxes have been accounted for. During the period examined the FAI was the association making the largest loss (in 2008). A number of factors were noted for this loss, operating losses being the greatest of them. (Click here for summary). FAI profits have dropped dramatically from highs of over €4m in 2007. Of all the associations the Welsh FA was the only organisation to record a loss for 2012. Throughout the entire period the SFA recorded profits in every year with 2006 being the most impressive. 

Examining wages and salaries from a per worker basis, no association is paying staff on average more than what they did at the start of the period under review. If we take the change in wages since 2007, as this year provides comparable data for all 5 associations, FAI salaries per worker fell by -7.5%, Welsh FA by -3.7% England FA by -30.9% and IFA by -20.3%. During this period only the SFA per worker salaries increased, by 8.6%. Only the FAI has decreased staff numbers, with all other associations employing more staff now than they did in 2008. 

Table 4 highlights the fees which directors of the various associations received throughout the period examined. In the FAI, in nominal terms John Delaney was paid a salary of circa €431,000 in 2010, however adjusting for inflation this corresponds to circa €450,000 in 2012 terms. Only the highest paid director in the FA received a higher allowance, of circa €701,000, which is nearly double what the highest paid director of the SFA receives. However, it should be noted that the fee to the highest paid director in the FA has dropped considerably since 2011 (-48%). In contrast the SFA has increased the amount paid to its highest paid director since 2010. Directors’ fees in the other associations are quite substantial in comparison to the Welsh FA. In 2012 €90,000 was paid out in directors remunerations, up from circa €20,000 the previous year. 

Throughout the period examined both the FAI and English FA undertook considerable costly capital projects. In the FAI’s case this was the reconstruction of the Old Lansdowne Road and new Wembley for the FA. As Table 5 indicates these projects added considerably to both associations long term debt, which has been a focal point of many opinion pieces in regards to both associations. In fact the FAI have acknowledged that they may not be able to achieve their ambition to be debt free by 2020, and having only reduced their long term debt by 3.3% between 2012 and 2011 it is easy to see why. Similarly the FA are extremely determined to reduce their debt burden, so much so that they’ve sold the naming rights to their stadium for both football matches and music concerts.