the soccer club market | France

1.1 Definition and presentation

The soccer club market mainly covers the players of the Professional Football League (LFP), which brings together the French and Monegasque clubs with professional status, i.e., the 20 clubs of League 1, and the 20 clubs of League 2.

The economic sector "professional soccer" generates several billion euros in France each year with double-digit annual growth since 2016, after experiencing many years of deficit. But PSG carries two-thirds of the growth of its peers. In 2016, nearly 3% of the French population is part of a soccer club and France is one of the leading soccer countries in Europe, with more than 15,000 soccer clubs, and more than 2 million licensees including 5% women (a number that is constantly increasing).

Transfers, during the summer and winter periods, contribute to the growth of soccer in France with increasingly large amounts of money, whether it be at the national or international level.(Neymar, bought for 220 million euros by PSG) or for sale (Pepe, sold for over 80 million euros by Lille in 2019). For example, in 2016, transfers during the summer period amounted to more than 4.2 billion euros, driven by the British Premier League's spending of 1.4 billion euros. The French Ligue 1 generated a profit of 425 million euros in transfers. Also, sponsoring and TV rights, which are increasingly important, contribute to the growth of the market in France.

The market for soccer clubs is dominated by PSG, Olympique Lyonnais and Monaco, as well as a handful of other clubs, which leaves little room for the remaining players. The staggering growth of PSG and OL may hide the financial difficulties of the other clubs, making it rather difficult to estimate the growth of the other players in the market in the coming years.

The soccer club market is facing increasing regulatory constraints (proposed tax on high incomes), as well as the financialization of the soccer economy, marked by the arrival of foreign investment funds.