The 18 premier division football clubs booked a combined loss of at least €89.5m last season, its worst result in history, according to research by the Volkskrant.



Corrected for ‘accounting tricks, council bail-outs and private capital injections’ the losses reached at least €97.6m, the paper says.

The figures do not include VVV-Venlo, which is a cooperative and Vitesse, which has been struggling financially for years.

Fifteen of the clubs made a loss. Ajax (nearly €23m), PSB (€17.5m), Heerenveen (€15m) and Feyenoord (€14m) account for the bulk.

Two years ago, the premier league clubs made a joint profit of €64m, the paper says.

Mismanagement

‘The economic crisis and the disappointing performances lay bare the financial mismanagement which these clubs have practised for years,’ Mattijs Manders, director of credit assessor Graydon, told the paper.

‘In past years, shortfalls could be made up by selling players. But the transfer market as it was then [in which millions of euros was paid for average players] will never come back,’ Manders said.

While club income will rise around 3% in the future, many clubs are giving out 20% to 30% more than they earn, he said.

Last year’s league champions FC Twente made a profit of €1.2m last season, FC Groningen made €21,000 and NEC €1.5m, the paper said.