25 Feb 2010English clubs 'owe 56 per cent of Europe's football debt'

Football Clubs News | Football Finance News

An official report from UEFA has indicated that English Premier League football clubs owe more money than the rest of Europe's top divisions put together.

Entitled the European Club Footballing Landscape, the document states that England's top-flight teams now have combined debts of €3.8 billion (£3.4 billion).

This figure represents 56 per cent of the total across Europe and is about four times higher than the collective debt of Spain's La Liga, where the clubs owe £858 million.

UEFA's report analyses the annual accounts of all 732 licensed clubs from 2007-08.

However, the true extent of the English Premier League's current debt is expected to be even greater, as only 18 clubs were included in the research.

Two of the most indebted outfits, Portsmouth and West Ham United, were not granted UEFA licences that year due to their ongoing financial difficulties.

Portsmouth have debts of about £70 million and the high-profile problems at Fratton Park have caused several experts to question the financial model of the English top flight in recent weeks.

Written by Terry Mitchell

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