Manchester City achieves record revenue and profit levels

Manchester City Football Club has achieved its best revenue and profit levels in its history, it revealed today, after releasing its financial results for the 2021-22 season.

Turnover hit £613m, up from £569.85m the previous year, while pre-tax profits of £41.7m compared with £5m the prior season, and are more than double the previous club record.

The club’s wage bill, which includes 549 staff, dropped slightly to £353.9m, while commercial revenues rose to to £309.5m, helped by an increase in sponsors and the return of concerts to the stadium.

City’s finances were previously impacted by the pandemic which led to teams having to close their grounds and physical retail facilities to spectators, severely limiting revenue opportunities.

Several factors contributed to the club’s record breaking financial results and continued profitability, including fans returning to the Etihad Stadium and the increase of the clubs’ wider commercial revenues.

Profits were also boosted by significant player trading. The £67.7m profit City generated from the transfer of players’ registrations took the total above £250m over the past five years and this will grow even further in 2022/23 following the club’s unprecedented transfer business in the 2022 summer window.

Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said: “As we reflect on the 2021/22 season, I do so with immense pride in the work and commitment of all of our City family, that has allowed us to emerge from the pandemic with strong finances and further on-pitch successes. We should feel uplifted by the collective achievements of so many and look to the future with anticipation, knowing our club is committed to accomplish so much more.”

Chief executive, Ferran Soriano, said: “Our strong revenue performance was due to multiple factors, but ultimately driven by the beautiful football we play and the continuous fan growth that it generates – more fans, more audiences, more people in the stadium, and more partners that want to be commercially associated with Manchester City.”

This growth impacted external independent benchmarks with Brand Finance naming Manchester City the second most valuable football brand in the world, with a valuation of €1.33bn.

In the annual report, the chairman puts the 2021/22 financial performance into strategic context: “In 2008 we gave ourselves the target of exceeding the benchmarks that had been set by others within football – and in doing so, to also exceed the new standards that we believed leading clubs would achieve in the time it would take us to catch up. Our aim was clear – to one day be the club that set the benchmark for others. The statistics and results show that, in many ways, we are beginning to achieve our long term ambition.”

Soriano added: “Ultimately, the 2021/22 season was representative of the football standards that we have set ourselves as we continued to deliver on our ownership’s vision and plans.”

Honours during the reporting period included the men’s first team winning the Premier League trophy for a fourth time in five years under Pep Guardiola’s leadership. The squad reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, marking 10 Champions League qualifications in the past 10 years and making City the only Premier League club with this achievement over that period.

The report also details the success of City’s youth. In addition to an impressive number of first team debuts, City’s Academy won the Premier League Under-18 title and the Elite Development Squad landed the Premier League 2 crown. Soriano said: “This is an unprecedented collective achievement and points to the bright future for our Academy graduates.”

In addition to developing young talent, the growth of women’s football continues to be a very top priority. Last year, Manchester City women showed resilience after an injury-hit start to the season, fought to the end, and bounced back to earn a qualification for the Champions League for the seventh season in succession.

The report reveals a continuity of momentum in the business, and opportunities for the future. These elements were a focus for comment by both the chairman and CEO.

The chairman added: “If we are to be true to the efforts of all of those people that have contributed over the last 14 years to deliver our current successes, we must challenge ourselves to question everything we accept as optimal, and to define new and unprecedented goals and the right strategies to achieve them.

“This is the task that Sheikh Mansour, our shareholders, the board and I have set our management team. In doing so we recognise the fundamental truth that continuously delivering football success for our fans will also continue to create value for our shareholders.

“Football does not stand still. We, therefore, need to constantly challenge ourselves to improve upon what we have achieved. This means innovating further in Manchester and beyond. Reimagining ourselves and how we move forward in Manchester and through City Football Group.”