Clubs continues to live beyond its means

According to a recently published study in daily newspaper A Bola, Superliga clubs increased their revenue by 40 % last season but higher costs kept them in debt. Although the clubs generated €278.1m in total revenue In the 2003/04 season, costs increased to €279.3m. Porto made €110m revenue due to its winning the UEFA Champions League. Out of this amount, €37.8m in were generated from the transfers of Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho to Chelsea and midfielder Deco to Barcelona. Porto, Benfica and Sporting - the country's big three clubs took about 70% of the total revenue. Porto's average gate was more than 40,000, followed by Sporting and Benfica with more than 35,000. But average attendance at matches between the 18 First Division clubs was less than 10,000. League president Valentim Loureiro blamed high salaries for players and coaches for the shortfall.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.