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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 Serbiaâs 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 Europeâs biggest leagues for significant fees.
According to Marin, player sales made up around 60 per cent of the clubâs budget last season, with European competition contributing 15â20 per cent.
That reliance leaves little protection if either source of income falls short.
âItâs a paradox,â he says: Red Star have to sell every year and still build a better team.
Read the article via the link in the comments đ
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 Europeâs 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 marketâs potential before becoming active there.
âWhen weâve done that assessment on the various leagues, Spain was coming out top on, if not all of them, a lot of them,â 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 đ
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 âŹ43m and spent âŹ22m.
Juventus are going the other way. They have not made a profit since 2016/17, nine seasons ago, and they are still buying: âŹ165m this summer, with net debt at âŹ357m
Five years ago, @SV07Elversberg played in Germanyâs 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 âŹ14.6 million. The Bundesliga average in 2024/25 was âŹ118 million.
And while their new rivals boast elite training facilities, Elversbergâs 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 Germanyâs elite.
Technical director Josef WelzmĂŒller reveals the clubâs grand ambitions and the culture driving them in the full article.
Read it via the link in the comments đ
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 clubâs total revenue, while Como lost âŹ105 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 âŹ64.8 million for them in 2024/25, more than Comoâs 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 clubâs revenue. City have appealed, and no sanction has been decided yet.
This summer they spent âŹ526 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 clubsâ 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 UEFAâs distribution model, Mioduski argues that domestic leagues should also look at their own revenues.
Europeâs 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 âŹ100 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 âvery surprisedâ if it were completed at âŹ100 million for French club who were relegated from Ligue 1 last season.
Instead, they believe a price between âŹ25 million and âŹ40 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.
One of the leading lenders behind Europeâs stadium boom has raised concerns over the financing of new projects.
More than 50 stadium projects across Europe have featured in Off The Pitchâs daily newsletter in 2026 alone, as clubs chase new revenue through multi-purpose venues.
But at the World Football Summit in Madrid, JPMorgan executives Tim Self and Mike Carlson raised concerns over growing interest rates and whether stadiums can be delivered on time and on budget.
Higher financing costs mean lenders can provide less debt, which can force projects to become cheaper and ultimately limit the revenue-generating potential that drove the project in the first place.
Read the full article via the link in the comments to learn about the risks, the financing options and why clubs are still pushing ahead.
Transfer financing volumes reached new highs this summer, without the lender whose arrival drove pricing to record lows last year.
@premierleague clubs committed âŹ4.1 billion this summer, fuelling unprecedented demand for transfer financing.
But Citibank, whose arrival pushed margins on the most attractive deals to record lows and triggered a price war among lenders last year, was largely absent from the transfer receivables market - contrary to expectations after its high-profile entry.
Demand for financing was higher than ever, with some buying clubs even pushing their first payments into future seasons, underlining the growing need for immediate liquidity to fund transfer activity. And with Citibank far less active than expected, more of that business flowed especially to other large, established lenders.
As clubs become more dependent on quick access to credit, both the availability and cost of that liquidity are becoming increasingly important to footballâs financial landscape.
Read the full article in the comments.
Tomorrow night, Sevilla FC and FC Barcelona meet in @LaLiga.
In 2020/21, @FCBarcelona lost âŹ481 million and @SevillaFC had just won the Europa League. Barcelona have since worked their way back to almost breaking even. Sevilla won the Europa League again, but have not made a profit in any season since.
Take a look at the financial head-to-head below.
