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Tonight, @AGFFodbold host @SCBragaOficial in the @Conf_League.
Despite running very different models, neither club’s revenue covers its expenses.
Braga spend 95 cents of every euro they earn on wages and last season made €61m from player sales, more than the club’s entire revenue.
AGF won the Danish league in May with a wages-to-revenue ratio of 63 per cent but still lost €1m.
Take a look at the financial head-to-head below.
ALT Match of the Week
Player-exporting leagues are looking beyond the biggest buying market to keep transfer income growing.
While @premierleague spending on permanent signings has risen by €978 million since 2022/23, €921 million of that increase has stayed within the league.
But as the 2025/26 accounts have started rolling in, they highlight why securing continuous transfer income growth remains important, with leading clubs from the leagues just outside the 'big five' reporting operating losses growing faster than profits on player sales.
Rather than panicking over the biggest market mainly increasing its spending within its own borders, Belgian @ProLeagueBE CEO Lorin Parys and @ligaportugal CEO Andre Amaral highlight opportunities in other markets.
Read the full article through the link in the comments 👇
Tonight, @AFCAjax hosts @AZAlkmaar in the @eredivisie with only one point between them.
AZ finished seventh last season, two places below Ajax, and won the cup, their first trophy in thirteen years. That is what put AZ in the @EuropaLeague this season, while Ajax are in the @Conf_League.
Neither club lives on matchday and TV money alone. Take the player sales out and both are in the red, every season for the past seven years.
Take a look at the financial head-to-head below.
Red Star Belgrade (@crvenazvezdafk) have to sell players every year to compete.
The club cannot generate enough from Serbia’s domestic market to fund a team expected to win the league and secure European football each season.
Since Marko Marin became technical director in 2022, Red Star have sold young players, including teenagers, to clubs in Europe’s biggest leagues for significant fees.
According to Marin, player sales made up around 60 per cent of the club’s budget last season, with European competition contributing 15–20 per cent.
That reliance leaves little protection if either source of income falls short.
“It’s a paradox,” he says: Red Star have to sell every year and still build a better team.
Read the article via the link in the comments 👇
There has never been more M&A activity in Spanish football than in 2026.
With 13 transactions completed so far this year, Spain has already surpassed its previous annual record, becoming Europe’s most active football M&A market for the first time.
The attraction for investors lies partly in the relationship between valuations, sporting potential and financial risk.
Oakwell Sports Advisory, which has worked on deals in Spain this year, had identified the market’s potential before becoming active there.
“When we’ve done that assessment on the various leagues, Spain was coming out top on, if not all of them, a lot of them,” says Nic Hamer, associate at Oakwell.
A domestic broadcast renewal worth nine per cent more than the previous cycle, tighter financial controls and ongoing stadium investment are strengthening that proposition.
With several factors now aligning, Spain is emerging as an increasingly attractive destination for investors seeking opportunities in European football.
Read the article via the link in the comments 👇
Tomorrow, @juventusfc and @OfficialSSLazio meet in @SerieA.
Lazio's supporters have been boycotting the Stadio Olimpico since January, in protest of owner Claudio Lotito. The ground was 40% full across 2025/26, against 62% the season before.
@FIGC - The Italien Football Federation held the club's summer too. Wages and transfer costs take more of Lazio's income than its rules allow, so Lazio could sign only once they had sold. They sold €43m and spent €22m.
Juventus are going the other way. They have not made a profit since 2016/17, nine seasons ago, and they are still buying: €165m this summer, with net debt at €357m
Five years ago, @SV07Elversberg played in Germany’s fourth tier. Now, they play in the @Bundesliga_DE.
They have raised the bar again this season, beating @bayer04_en and @borussia Mönchengladbach in their first top-flight games.
Elversberg's finances and facilities underline the scale of those performances.
In 2025, they reported wages of €14.6 million. The Bundesliga average in 2024/25 was €118 million.
And while their new rivals boast elite training facilities, Elversberg’s players prepare for training sessions in modular containers.
But their ambitions extend far beyond their surroundings. Now, the task for the underdog club is to show how far they can go among Germany’s elite.
Technical director Josef Welzmüller reveals the club’s grand ambitions and the culture driving them in the full article.
Read it via the link in the comments 👇
Tonight, @Feyenoord and @Como_1907 meet in the @ChampionsLeague, having reached the competition through two very different strategies.
Como were in Serie D in 2017 and are now in the Champions League for the first time in their history.
In 2024/25, their first season back in @SerieA, their Indonesian owners supported a wage bill bigger than the club’s total revenue, while Como lost €105 million.
Feyenoord finished second in the @eredivisie to qualify, funded their squad through player sales and have made a profit for three years running. The Champions League generated €64.8 million for them in 2024/25, more than Como’s total revenue that season.
On Sunday, Liverpool FC and Manchester City FC meet in @premierleague.
Last month an independent commission upheld 114 of the 115 charges against @ManCity, covering the seasons from 2009/10 to 2017/18. Central to the ruling is that sponsors paid only part of their fees while the owner covered the rest, in what the commission called sham contracts used to inflate the club’s revenue. City have appealed, and no sanction has been decided yet.
This summer they spent €526 million on transfers.
City won three league titles in those nine seasons. @LFC finished second to them in 2013/14, trailing by two points. If that title is taken away, Liverpool are next in line.
Take a look at the two clubs’ financial head-to-head below.
For @DarekMioduski, the debate over how European football distributes its money should not stop with @UEFA's club competition revenues.
The European Football Clubs (@EFC_Football) vice-chairman and @LegiaWarszawa owner believes the @Conf_League as been a success in creating more opportunities for clubs from smaller and medium-sized markets.
But as European Leagues pushes for changes to UEFA’s distribution model, Mioduski argues that domestic leagues should also look at their own revenues.
Europe’s biggest leagues generate significant media income from smaller football markets without sharing those revenues with the local football ecosystem, he argues.
His proposal: leagues should consider building a solidarity system of their own.
It adds another dimension to the debate over how money and opportunity should be distributed across European football.
Read the full interview via the link in the comments.
Nantes takeover in doubt amid uncertainty over investor financing
French media reported last week that @FCNantes owner Waldemar Kita had signed a preliminary agreement with Paulo Tavares and Phenix Sports Invest over a €100 million takeover.
However, Off The Pitch can reveal that the deal remains far from completion.
According to a source closely linked to a potential takeover, who spoke anonymously because they are not authorised to comment publicly, several red flags surround the deal.
Most significantly, the investment group have yet to submit proof of funding or any other documents demonstrating liquidity.
The source described this as highly unusual for a deal at this stage and said they would be “very surprised” if it were completed at €100 million for French club who were relegated from Ligue 1 last season.
Instead, they believe a price between €25 million and €40 million would be more realistic, although there is considerable uncertainty over whether the investor group can raise even that amount.
Opposition against the proposed takeover has also arrived as the club's Social and Economic Committee voted against the proposition yesterday.