FC Barcelona confirms record income in past season

Madrid July 18 (IANS) FC Barcelona reported it had closed the accounts for the 2016/17 football season with record earnings. The accounts for the period July 1 2016 to June 30 2017 confirm the club had earnings of 708 million euros ($818.23 million); 13 million euros ($15.02 million) more than was budgeted for.

It may have been a disappointing season on the pitch for Barcelona who were knocked out of the quarter-finals of the Champions League against Juventus and finished behind Real Madrid in the race for the La Liga title but in financial terms it was a bonanza reports Xinhua news agency.

Barcelona on Monday showed a profit of 18 million euros ($20.81 million) for a season in which 66 per cent of expenditure was on "payment of salaries to athletes".

The official Barcelona website explains the growth is "in line" with the club s strategic plan to have earnings of 1 000 million euros ($1156 million) by 2021.

A recent article in Forbes Magazine made Barcelona the fourth most valuable sports club in the world placing it behind the Dallas Cowboys the New York Yankees and Manchester United with a value of 3.64 billion euros ($4.20 billion).

--IANS
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