Cutting football club expenses by just 5% could help 118,137 vulnerable people

• Top football clubs could improve the lives of 118,137 vulnerable people by giving just 5% of their expenditures to the local community, new research shows.
• Football club expenses equate to help for 2.3 million vulnerable people.
• Club vs Community reveals the potential social impact top clubs could have if they were to reduce their inessential expenses over a year.
• Real Madrid could reduce the risk of poverty for 2,321 children by cutting their spend on acquiring players by 5%, or help 1,431 adults find employment.
• It would cost €1,669 to provide intervention for a homeless adult in the UK, and just €800 to teach workers the skills they need to find employment in Paris.
• Top football clubs could improve the lives of 118,137 vulnerable people by giving just 5% of their expenditures to the local community, new research shows.
• Football club expenses equate to help for 2.3 million vulnerable people.
• Club vs Community reveals the potential social impact top clubs could have if they were to reduce their inessential expenses over a year.
• Real Madrid could reduce the risk of poverty for 2,321 children by cutting their spend on acquiring players by 5%, or help 1,431 adults find employment.
• It would cost €1,669 to provide intervention for a homeless adult in the UK, and just €800 to teach workers the skills they need to find employment in Paris.

If the world’s top football clubs were to cut their inessential expenditures by just 5%, they could collectively improve the lives of 118,137 vulnerable members of society, new research shows. 

The 15 highest-earning teams in the world, as decided by the Deloitte Football Money League 2019, have spent a staggering €6.923 billion on salaries and bonuses, upgrading facilities and acquiring players over the past year.

Club vs Community calculates the cost of rectifying key social issues in various countries around the world – including homelessness, social care and unemployment – and measures this against football clubs’ expenditure as detailed in the latest available financial reports.

However, with the question as to whether footballers are overpaid remaining a point of contention among fans, Club vs Community asks how much more teams could be doing to help address prevalent social issues.

Although directly rectifying hard-hitting social issues may be beyond the remit of football clubs, the fact remains that the average pay in the Premier League is around €230,000 per month – a staggering 120 times more than the typical €1,916 EU monthly wage.

In Spain, raising the income for all impoverished households with children to the OECD average and thereby reducing the risk of poverty would cost €5,365 per capita – while Real Madrid spent €249 million on player transfers alone in 2019.

The highest-earning football clubs and their potential social reach

Over the past year, Manchester United have spent €27 million on sponsorship and broadcasting, while Inter Milan have splashed out €183,000 on PR and gifts. If both teams were to cut these expenditures by 10%, they could improve the lives of 1,839 local people.

To find out more about the cost of tackling social issues, and how high-earning clubs can help reach this goal, view the full Club vs Community study here: https://www.netbet.co.uk/blog/club-community/.