Football's Financial Data Deficiencies

I have two posts on this blog already. They are intentionally full of data. My goal is to provide as much reliable evidence as possible about football's finances. But the reliability of all the evidence is questionable, I am afraid. This is because of football's financial data deficiencies.

I have spent much of the last nine months trying to gather as much data as possible about football's global finances, and my efforts have not been that successful. The best data out there center on the English Premiership, and other English leagues. These data are produced by entities like Deloitte, the media, and--in the case of some clubs--through annual financial reports.Beyond these English leagues, one can get data about the top clubs through entities like Forbes. One can also get league-level data for the top level leagues like Serie A (given annual reports on the aggregated finances of clubs playing in such) and through the UEFA Club Licensing reports. Most of these data are at the league level, and do not provide enough detail to show what is going on in individual clubs (the most recent UEFA report does start to show these data, remarkably, and those producing this report deserve huge credit for both the work they have put into it and the steadfast commitment to release data despite what I imagine must have been significant objections from clubs).

There are quite a lot of data available now in respect of global transfers. This is largely because of the innovative work at FIFA Transfer Management System (TMS), which captures self-reported transfer dealings by clubs across borders. These data are produced in summary form in annual reports, which one can access at reasonable cost. More detailed data cost a lot more and are thus inaccessible for most people trying to develop a thorough understanding of the transfer market or an evidence-based strategy to examine these transfers and perhaps propose or advocate for new policies.

The transfer data are not complete, however, with many gaps. The FIFA TMS data only covers transfers across borders, for instance. Transfers within countries are not captured in any similar way (except by some associations). UEFA does collect data on the amount spent on transfers at the club level in top leagues, but it does not show details of actual transactions and does not collect data for the majority of European clubs (with no data capture for clubs outside of the Champions League and Europa League competitions). This means that there are gaps in global transfer transactions data. These gaps undermine the reliability of data in any academic study. Perhaps more troubling is the way these gaps create opportunities for transactional opacity.

Outside of Europe and global transfers, the pickings are slim. One can get data about finances in some leagues through the associations and federation bodies and the media--but most are like data deserts. When I say the data are available for 'some' leagues I hope this is read to say 'far fewer than one might expect'. One can get data at the league level for up and coming leagues in East Asia, for instance, Australia, the USA, and places like South Africa, and one can get estimates for leagues like Brazil and Mexico. But for most countries it is just really tough to find out what is going on with football's finances. As the introducing sentence to this paragraph suggests, if data is like a succulent plant, most contexts are like deserts and offer nothing for the interested observer!

The following table shows results from research I was involved in. It focused on identifying the materials available from national associations' and federations' websites. As is shown, most associations did not have basic information about their own finances or the rules of ownership or financial management for entities under their jurisdiction. This is one example to illustrate how many data gaps there are, and how fundamental these gaps are. 

	Produced, Available, and Easily Accessed	Not Produced, Not Available, or Not Easily Accessed
Annual Financial Statement	17 out of 44[i]	27 out of 44[ii]
Club Ownership Rules and Regulations	10 out of 44[iii]	34 out of 44
Club Financial Management Rules and Regulations	8 out of 44[iv]	36 out of 44
Transfer Rules and Regulations	10 out of 44[v]	34 out of 44

Source: Original research by authors and affiliates, that involved examining web sites of 44 administrative bodies. End notes provide a list of the bodies examined.

It is interesting to note which administrative bodies routinely populate the first column in Table 1 (producing specified documents): those from richer nations and/or English speaking nations with a colonial connection to the United Kingdom. This is important to recognize because a large literature shows greater compliance with modern financial management practices and concerns in governments and private entities in such countries as compared with others.[vi] Patterns in the football world are thus once again reflective of those in the world more generally. One should not read Table 1 to suggest that the entities falling into the ‘not produced, not available, or not easily accessed’ column do not actually have the documents in question. All we know is that they do no produce data that we have been able to access after months of emails, web searches, and more.

So, what's the point?

• Just to be as transparent as possible, anyone reading this blog should always recognize that the data are drawn from a largely opaque sector; always question what you read.
• Evidence produced here is as thorough as possible, but anyone with better data should feel open and invited to share it... please!
• For those who are working in this area, can we answer a simple question: What will it take to make the global football sector more transparent than it currently is?

 

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[i] The Confederations, Associations and Federations in this list included: All India Football Federation, Brazilian Football Confederation, Canadian Soccer Association, Confederation of African Football (CAF), Football Association of Ireland, French Football Federation, Football Federation Australia, Italian Football Federation, Japan Football Association, New Zealand Football, Royal Dutch Football Association, Royal Spanish Football Federation, Scottish Football Association, South African Football Association, Swiss Football Association, The Football Association, Union Des Associations Europeennes De Football (UEFA), United States Soccer Federation.

[ii] The Confederations, Associations and Federations in this list included: Albanian Football Association, Argentine Football Association, Asian Football Confederation (AFC),Confederacion Sudamericana De Futbol (CONMEBOL), Cook Islands Football Association, Croatian Football Federation, Ethiopian Football Federation, Fédération Béninoise de Football, Fédération Togolaise de Football, Football Kenya Federation, Gambia Football Association, Ghana Football Association, Jamaica Football Federation, Korea Football Association, Libyan Football Federation, Mexican Football Federation, Nigeria Football Federation, Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), Pakistan Football Federation, Philippine Football Federation, Portuguese Football Federation, Romanian Football Federation, The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), Tonga Football Association, Trinidad and Tobago Football Association, Zimbabwe Football Association.

[iii] The Confederations, Associations and Federations in this list included: Royal Dutch Football Association, Romanian Football Federation, French Football Federation, Zimbabwe Football Association, Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), South African Football Association, Canadian Soccer Association, New Zealand Football, Union Des Associations Europeennes De Football (UEFA), The Football Association, Football Association of Ireland, Italian Football Federation, Scottish Football Association.

[iv] The Confederations, Associations and Federations in this list included: United States Soccer Federation, Football Federation Australia, Royal Spanish Football Federation, New Zealand Football, Union Des Associations Europeennes De Football (UEFA), The Football Association, Football Association of Ireland, Italian Football Federation.

[v]The Confederations, Associations and Federations in this list included: Brazilian Football Confederation, Japan Football Association, French Football Federation, South African Football Association, Football Federation Australia, Royal Spanish Football Federation, New Zealand Football, Union Des Associations Europeennes De Football (UEFA), The Football Association, Italian Football Federation.

[vi] Andrews, M. (2013). Chapter 4.