Premier League 'still dominant'
Updated on 31 May 2007
A report on the European football market sees the English Premiership reinforcing its position as the world's wealthiest league.
The average footballer in the English Premiership will earn more than £1 million next season, according to a new report into football finances.
The Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance, released today, also predicts a new £2.7 billion TV package will see the revenues of England's top league continue to surge ahead of those of its continental rivals.
And the report anticipates that within three seasons the money TV rights package will mean the first-ever £10 million a year Premiership player - the equivalent of £200,000 a week.
Comparing the Premiership with rival leagues on the continent, Deloitte says spending power among English clubs throughout the division is now far superior to that of comparable Spanish and Italian clubs.
The report also notes that the gap between the average Premier League and Coca-Cola Championship clubs' revenue in 2005-6 was £56 million. This gap is likely to have increased to over £70 million by the end of next season.
The report anticipates that within three years we will see the first-ever £10 million a year player.
The Premiership generated £1.4 billion in revenue in the season just finished - a sum projected to rise to 1.654 million in 2007-8. That compares with Italy's £1 billion, £800 million for Germany and Spain, and £600 million in France.
Commenting on the review, Dan Jones of Deloitte's sports business group said: "10 years ago there was pretty close competition between the Premier League and Serie A. Next season the Premier League is going to be one billion euros ahead of Serie A."
