Report Reveals Finances For France's Football Clubs; Ligue 1 Teams Lose $78M In '11-12

Ligue 1 has "fallen back into financial struggles," according to Guillaume Errard of LE FIGARO. After having cut in half its losses between the '09-10 and '10-11 seasons (from €114M to €46M), France's elite teams lost €60M ($78.2M) in '11-12. If Ligue 2 clubs are included, the losses reach €108M ($140.8M). The data was presented by the DNCG, the organization responsible for overseeing and monitoring the accounts of professional football clubs in France. The data shows seven-time Ligue 1 champions Lyon is in the worst financial position with losses of €28M ($36.5M), followed by Ligue 2's AJ Auxerre (€16.4M/$21.4M) and Marseille (€8.2M/$10.7M). Paris St. Germain "was able to limit its losses" to €5.5M ($7.2M). The figure takes into account "the famous contract" worth more than €100M ($130.4M) with the Qatar Tourism Authority. The club in the best financial predicament is Lille, which shows a profit of €3.8M ($5M). The other clubs to make money "only showed benefits in the hundreds of thousands of euros." The French Professional Football League (LFP) reminded us that the losses from French clubs remain "reasonable" compared to neighbors Spain and England (LE FIGARO, 3/5). The report, breaking down each club's finances, from the DNCG, in French (LFP).