Guest editor's note: the financial crisis in European football: proceedings of the conference on football and finance.

Frick, Bernd

The revenues of professional football clubs in Europe have increased enormously over the last decades. The big five European leagues (England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain) in 2007-08 generated revenues of almost 10 billion [euro], of which 3 billion [euro] have to be attributed to the English Premier League and 1.8 billion [euro] each to the Spanish "La Liga," the Italian "Serie A," and the German "Bundesliga."

According to Deloitte & Touche LLP, individual clubs such as Manchester United, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and FC Chelsea now have annual revenues exceeding 400 million [euro]. Moreover, according to the most recent Forbes soccer team valuations, these clubs have market values of more than 800 million [euro] each. However, in some cases the increase in revenues and market values was by far exceeded by the growth in debts--liabilities as a percentage of market value is now at more than 50% at Manchester United, 90% at Chelsea, and 25% at Madrid. Of the top five clubs in Europe, only Bayern Munich is free of any liabilities.

English Premier League clubs have accumulated liabilities exceeding 4 billion [euro], of which almost two thirds are related to Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester United. Although somewhat different, the situation in the German Bundesliga, usually considered economically healthy, has also deteriorated recently. Accumulated liabilities of the 18 clubs have now reached 600 million [euro], of which more than half are related to Schalke 04, Borussia Dortmund, and Hertha BSC Berlin.

The first international conference on "Football and Finance" at the University of Paderborn on April 4-5, 2009, addressed the reasons for the coexistence of skyrocketing revenues and exploding liabilities. Distinguished experts from Belgium, England, Germany, Switzerland, and the United States discussed strategies to ameliorate these developments that are likely to threaten the future of professional football.

This special issue of the International Journal of Sport Finance consists of four papers that have been selected from the conference program. I would like to thank all those who made the conference a success. First of all, I would like to thank paper presenters and discussants who did a great job. Second, I would like to thank the University of Paderborn and REA Card for their financial support. Last but not least, I would like to thank Heinz Nixdorf Museum for hosting the event.

Bernd Frick (1)

(1) University of Paderborns