February 15 – Belgian clubs in the top two divisions recorded a cumulative loss of €193 million for the 2022-23 season, the licensing commission confirmed on Wednesday.
Club Brugge, Union, STVV, Racing Genk, Kortrijk and Cercle Brugge were the only clubs out of 25 to not make a loss, confirming once again the chronic financial mismanagement that plagues Belgian clubs.
The cumulative loss exceeds the €156 million deficit of the 2021-22 season by 37 million euros.
The Belgian champions Antwerp were the perfect illustration, registering a record loss of €46 million.
The income from the Champions League campaign and the transfers of Arthur Vermeeren, Willian Pacho and Gaston Avila were not yet included in these calculations. Club chairman and real estate magnate Paul Gheysens recently implemented a capital increase of almost €50 million.
Lorin Parys, the CEO of the Belgian Pro League, points at three factors for the mammoth losses – wage bills, higher taxes and fines for breaking the broadcast contract early during the Covid-19 pandemic. He told local media: “It is a fact that clubs pay players too much. The inflationary wage spiral must stop.”
At present, Belgian clubs spend 88% of their revenue on wages – only French clubs spend more – but by 2025, the Pro League will slap those clubs who have not brought down that figure to 70% with punishment.
Parys said: “That is a soft form of a salary ceiling, intended to contain losses in the long term. The good news is that 13 clubs already meet the 70% criterion. 19 clubs achieved the target benchmark of 90% in 2023.”
In the 2022-23 season, Standard (€19 million), AA Gent (€19 million), OH Leuven (€18 million), Lommel (€14 million) and Zulte Waregem (€12 million) were the other main loss-makers.
Owned by 777 Partners, the Liège-based club have been navigating troubled waters and they were fined €30,000 by the licensing commission for sending the audit report of their accounts late in November. KV Oostende were fined €177,500 for violating the Financial Fair Play rules and will start next season with a points deduction.
Owned by King Power, Leuven’s losses keep mounting, up from €15 million and €16,5 million in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons. Under King Power, OH Leuven have totalled losses of €87 million.
However, in the financial accounts, the club guarantees that this is not a problem, arguing: “Even though the club has made a loss in consecutive financial years, there is no problem in terms of continuity of OH Leuven CVBA. These losses are due to heavy investment in players, personnel, media and infrastructure since promotion to the First Division in August 2020. The company has received a Financial Support letter from King Power International CO LTD confirming the financial support. This letter of support is dated February 3, 2023 and is effective until June 30, 2024. The club anticipates an improvement in results in the coming years through a positive transfer policy, as well as an increase in commercial income.”
At the other end of the spectrum, Club Brugge enjoyed a profit of just over €10 million for the 2022-23 season. Union, with €2,96 million, and STVV, with €1,75 million, are the only other two clubs with noteworthy profits.
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