A look at Juventus’ new financial report that outlines Serie A losses

Juventus haven’t had much to celebrate on the pitch so far this season, and now the true extent of their losses off the pitch have been announced as well. Indeed, while Max Allegri’s side only won two of its nine matches in 2022/23, this pales in importance compared to the consolidated financial statement the club published earlier this week.

This report – available on the official Juventus website – covers the 2021/22 period, and reveals losses of €254 million ($246.1 million). This is the largest deficit ever recorded by any Serie A team, surpassing their total shortfall of 209.9 million euros ($246.2 million) for the previous year and Inter’s record of 245.6 million euros ($283 million).

It is also the fifth year in a row that the Bianconeri have recorded a loss, and the statement offered some explanations for the dire situation, including the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown restrictions.

“For a correct interpretation of the numbers, it is worth noting first that the 2021/22 financial year was once again hit with significant penalties – as all companies in the sector and many other industries have done – by the continuing health emergency associated with the Covid-19 pandemic and its consequent health crisis. Restrictive measures imposed by the authorities.

“The pandemic has significantly affected – directly and indirectly – revenue from the sale of tickets, revenue from the sale of products and licenses and revenue from player registration rights, with an inevitable negative impact of an economic and financial nature.”

She went on to discuss the causes of the heavy losses, most notably how stadium restrictions affected match-day revenue during the 2021/22 campaign.

This was clearly the case, particularly when Serie A imposed strict attendance restrictions as the Omnicron variant peaked in Italy during the winter months and had a major impact on Juventus in terms of gate receipts and merchandise sales.

Moreover, after the club’s exit from UEFA
EFA
UEFA Champions League Round of 16 by Villarreal, the lack of matches in that competition had a negative impact on television rights and media revenue.

All these factors combined to mean that Juventus have posted losses of around €534 million ($517.45 million) over the past three years combined, yet – thanks to strong financial support from the board of directors – they are still able to stay afloat.

In fact, as La Gazzetta dello Sport Reported earlier this week, they achieved a 300 million euro ($290.7 million) recapitalization at the end of 2019, while another financial injection came in December last year.

This saw another €400 million ($387.6 million) injected into asset recovery – which amounted to €169 million ($163.76 million) as of June 2022 – and debt reduction. In fact, the club’s cautious management has seen that debt drop from €464 million ($449.62 million) in 2019 to just €153 million ($148.26 million) net as of June 2022.

These numbers should be viewed as positive, and the report referred again to the three-year plan approved by the Board of Directors. According to the latest statement, this will see Juventus work towards achieving the following goals;

• Maintaining athletic competitiveness.
• Medium/long-term economic and financial balance.
• Operational excellence, with the increased visibility of the Juventus brand in international markets.
• Promote the integration of ESG topics into the business model.
• Take an active role in the reform and in the process of sustainable and comprehensive development of the sports industry.

Finally, concluding its business outlook, Juventus stated that “the economic outcome and operating cash flow for the 2022/2023 financial year – although affected by the unfavorable economic, financial and political context – are expected to improve significantly compared to those of the 2021/22 financial year, which It continues to suffer greatly from the direct and indirect effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

“As usual, economic, stock and financial performance for the current financial year will be affected by the performance of sporting results – in particular, the UEFA Champions League – and the second phases of the 2022/2023 transfer campaign.”

So, by acknowledging that their financial expectations are still largely dictated by on-pitch performance in the Champions League, it will be interesting to see how Max Allegri – whose future was discussed at length in this previous column – deals with the rest of the group stage.

By the time the season moves away from the World Cup, these four matches will have been played and Juventus will know their fate. Will the coach know where he is?