Chelsea football club has revealed that the London club made a profit of £32.5 million in the 2020 financial year. Though this was not close to the profit the club recorded in previous years, the profit the club recorded last year is seen as a huge achievement.
After the coronavirus infested year, clubs’ overall turnover dropped from £446.7 million to £407.4 million between July 1, 2019, and June 30, 2020. After the operation cost of Chelsea during the 2020 financial year was deducted, Chelsea was left with £32.5m as profit.
Recall that most football clubs across the world ran at a loss due to the coronavirus pandemic which forced major leagues in the world to a halt for over three months. When football returned in June 2020, clubs in most leagues including the Premier League were forced to conclude the 2019-2020 season behind closed doors.
This affected the revenue of clubs hugely but the advantage of the pandemic was that a club like Chelsea saved money in the 2020 financial year which ended in June because the club did not have to spend the money budgeted for the logistics required to host fans between mid-March and June.
Besides that, the club earned handsomely when the Blues qualified for the 2019-2020 UEFA Champions League. The club also sold some A-list players like Eden Hazard and Álvaro Morata during the financial year.
Also, Chelsea made a profit from ensuring that their transfer operations are done in line with UEFA’s break-even criteria under the Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.
It is worthy to note that the over £220 million Chelsea spent during the 2020 summer transfer window was not covered in the 2020 financial year since the deals were sealed after June.
Recall that Chelsea splashed money heavily to bring in Kai Havertz, Timo Werner, Ben Chilwell, and Edouard Mendy during the summer transfer window but that did not affect the revenue of the club in the year under review. Hence, the transfer expenditure would be captured under the 2021 financial year.
As we near the end of 2020, catch the best of our new signings from this year 👇 pic.twitter.com/9blpVDljxR
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 30, 2020
The chairman of Chelsea, Bruce Buck said: “In common with many, many businesses across the globe, the pandemic has had a significant impact on Chelsea’s income.
“But it is a sign of the strength and stability of our financial operation that the company was still able to post a profit in the past financial year.
“This was done while continuing to invest in our playing staff and indeed had normal football not halted in March, projections show a record profit and record turnover would have been achieved. That would have represented an increase in revenue for a fifth year in succession.
“Despite the impact of COVID, the revenue streams remained strong, our team is developing on the pitch and the club is in a good position to continue to grow when football can operate as it did previously, a time we are all looking forward to.”
