In an interview given to The Teamthe president of the National Directorate of Management Control (DNCG), Jean-Marc Mickeler, admitted that the institution “was concerned” about the financial situation of French clubs.
About ten days ago, the National Management Control Department (DNCG) analyzed the financial situation of several professional teams (Ligue 1, Ligue 2) and did not hesitate to take action. Olympique Lyonnais and FC Martigues were heavily sanctioned, receiving payroll control, a recruitment ban and a demotion as a precautionary measure at the end of the current sporting season. Le Havre AC, whose sports management is led by Mathieu Bodmer, was content with the first two sanctions. This was enough to plunge French observers into a period of doubt regarding the economic situations of their clubs.
Boss of the DNCG, Jean-Marc Mickeler recently spoke in The Teamtaking stock of the current situation of French clubs. This one, which is
“complicated”is translated by an operating loss “of the order of a billion eurosoffset by very good sales with 830 million euros of capital gains on player transfers. What generates a net loss of around 250 million euros (150 in L1, 100 in L2)”he underlines, to begin with.
The boss of the financial policeman of French Football takes advantage of this media visibility to send a clear message:
“At the DNCG, we think in any case that the absolute priority for our clubs between now and next May is to reduce payroll”he insists. This is, in his eyes, a point on which “French clubs have never worked” whose value increased by “400 million euros” over the period 2020-2024. Its total cost is much higher than that of our European neighbors:
“When we look at all the clubs monitored by UEFA, there is a payroll/revenue ratio of 53%. In France, it is 67%. »
How to explain it?
“The clubs added up optimistic assumptions, thinking that everything that was happening was cyclical, that the transfer market was going to pick up again, that TV rights were going to increase, that there was an unlimited consumer appetite for football. Everything we see shows that this is not true.”explains Jean-Marc Mikeler.
The National Directorate of Management Control that the drop in revenues linked to Television Rights is
“consequent” but not
“surprising” et
“the chances of seeing a media arrive and put more emphasis on the domestic rights of the L1 are reduced”he specifies. This is how reducing spending becomes an obligation, especially as the number of sales on the transfer market is declining (-9% in Europe).
“The DNCG is concerned and shares this concern with club managers and shareholders.
[…] Money is not everything and the economic model as it existed is dead”concludes the man who also heads the Audit and Assurance branch globally at Deloitte. The latter also recalls that French clubs will no longer receive income linked to the arrival of CVC, which acquired 13% of the commercial subsidiary of the Professional Football League (LFP) in exchange for a sum of 1 .5 billion euros.
