Football finance and Covid-19

This study looks at the financial performance of top English football clubs to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. By assessing the pandemic's impact on profitability, financial stability and indebtedness, this study offers some insight into the health of elite-level English football. The analysis focuses on English Premier League (EPL) and English Football League (EFL) clubs that have participated at least once in England's highest league, the EPL. Using panel data methodology from 36 clubs between 2005 and 2021, we quantify the impact and severity of the pandemic on the financial performance of top English football clubs. We find statistically significant evidence that profitability deteriorated during the pandemic with EPL clubs that were more reliant on matchday revenue the most impacted. Both financial stability and indebtedness deteriorated during the pandemic, but the deterioration was not statistically significant. EFL clubs were the most impacted by reduced financial stability and increased indebtedness according to our findings. The findings are vital for football regulators as they provide empirical evidence on the stability of the industry. The divergent impact of the pandemic on EPL and EFL clubs provides substantiation for changes to English football recommended by the proposed independent regulator. The findings also provide recommendations for football club owners on strategies they can adopt to survive during external shocks to the industry.