Covid-19's impact on football - Explained

Written by: Tan Yu Wei (20-E6)

Designed by: Lay Kai En, Ashley (21-O1)

In 2020, the world has changed. The rapid spread of the coronavirus has severely impacted the world around us, and the world of football was not spared too. In this article, we would look at how the global pandemic has affected the operations of professional football clubs, and, in particular, the European football leagues.

Like every other event in the world, major European football leagues were forced to either stand down or impose strict regulations when the Covid-19 pandemic came about. This meant that football matches which usually have up to 40,000 spectators per game were now reduced to zero. Zooming in on the case of the Premier League, which is England's top football league, it was forced to play games behind closed doors for the majority of the 2020/2021 season. This had a devastating impact on the financial situation of these football clubs, as an estimated revenue of 1.2 million pounds per match was lost and this made up close to 20% of a clubs annual revenue. Additionally, the mandatory testing of Premier League players and staff weekly meant that clubs would have to incur a higher cost, exacerbating the financial damages incurred as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. In total, the Covid-19 disruption has caused a loss of approximately USD 14 billion to the global football industry.

Having understood the financial implications that Covid-19 has brought to the global football industry, let's take a deeper look into how the football transfer market has changed as a result. Transfers in football refer to the signing of a new football player from one club to another.  An astronomical amount of money is often involved in the transfer process with the most expensive football transfer of all time amounting up to 222 million Euros. In the current pandemic, it is unsurprising that the total transfer fees have dropped significantly. According to a report by the International governing body of football (FIFA), the number of international transfers of male players in 2020 dropped by 5.4% compared to the previous year while the total transfer fees were down significantly by 23.4%. With fewer signing of football talents into the top flights of football, there would be less intense competition, making the matches less entertaining for fans all around the world to watch.

For all of these reasons, football clubs have come up with new ways to open up more sources of revenue to maintain the level of competition they can provide in the top flights. One key approach that football clubs have taken is the introduction of new apparels in collaboration with their sponsors. Take the case of Arsenal as an example. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Arsenal has been pushing out new apparels with Adidas, such as the redistribution of their classic 91-93 Away Jersey as well as their collaboration with Pharrell Williams which gave rise to the Arsenal Humanrace line of products. Apart from the football clubs own efforts to stay afloat during these turbulent times, football leagues have welcomed venture capital, which is fund-sourced from private financiers, to maximise profits. Although this may carry risks such as the overexploitation of the sport of football through increasing viewing prices that would overall harm the popularity of the sport, this measure is still largely welcomed. In the words of Javier Tebas, the President of the Spanish football league, “Private equity is good because this industry is mature, it needs to grow, get more jobs, to be more stable.”

To conclude, even though Covid-19 has adversely affected the global footballing world, there is still light at the end of the tunnel as life slowly returns to normal and football fans from around the world would be able to experience the beauty of football, live at the clubs they support.