Football (soccer) is one of the oldest and widely played
sports in the world. You wouldn't find many people who haven't heard or played
the game itself. The fans of football are widespread across the globe, and they
cheer and support their favorite teams regardless of their geographical
location.
The global appeal of professional football has promoted the
football industry into a multi-billion-dollar industry. There are millions or
even billions of dollars spent on a recognized football club, including the salary
of the workers, players and managers, the training equipment, additional staff,
stadium maintenance and whatnot. These expensive activities have posted the
sport into the stock exchange market as well.
FIFA is the major governing body of the football world and
organizes, approves and promotes all the major football tournaments around the
world. The total revenue of this organization between 2015-2018 was 5.8 billion
euros, where most of the income coming from broadcasting rights (2.8 billion
euros in revenue) and marketing rights (1.5 billion euros in revenue). The FIFA
World Cup of 2018 makes up for 83% of FIFA's total revenue because the
tournament was watched by nearly 3.6 billion people around the world (literally
half of the world's population.)
Football clubs are also making revenue and have posted quite
significant numbers in 2019. Bigger football clubs have bigger sponsorship
deals than other revenue sources such as broadcasts, tickets, etc. In 2019, FC
Barcelona managed to come out on top of the revenue department among football
clubs in Europe. It racked up 841 million euros, whereas Barcelona's all-time
rival, Real Madrid, followed closely behind at 757 million euros in 2019. Other
teams included Manchester United, FC Bayern Munich, and Paris Saint-Germain.
Manchester United played a significant role in putting the
sport of football on the stock market map. It was one of the first football
clubs and probably the most popular at this point. In 1991, the football club
made its way into the London Stock Exchange, where it aimed to raise 10 million
pounds but didn't reach the goal. In 2012, Man Utd got listed on the New York
Stock Exchange and finally surpassed its aim to raise 146.3 million pounds.
With football still being played and promoted on a global
level, the future of football seems very bright. The football fans are united
in the passion which is not looking to die very soon. The women in the sports
are also joining the fray as the 2019's Women's World Cup blasted off to
success.
