Barcelona closed the '13-14 season with club record income of €530M, the first time its end-of-year figure has exceeded €500M. Barcelona Economic VP Javier Faus announced that the team's profit for the year amounted to €41M ($55M), a figure topped only by the €49M profit that Barça recorded in '11-12. In the four seasons since '10-11, Barcelona has accumulated profit of €113M, an average of €35M per year. During the past year, the team also reduced its net debt by €44M, meaning the debt has decreased from €431M four years ago to €287M ($385M) as of June 30. Faus said, "We are much stronger and we feel we have a greater presence around the world than we did four years ago." He added that audits for the last four years have all been clean, saying, "We want the accounts that delegates see to be a faithful reflection of the club's assets. That is a sign of the financial transparency that we want from the club." Faus also highlighted that in the last four years, the club has jumped from 24th to 2nd on Forbes' ranking of the world's most valuable clubs (Barcelona).
KINGS OF THE MARKET: MARCA reported 34 days before the summer transfer period closes, Barcelona and Real Madrid are leading world football in spending. Atlético Madrid is fifth in spending, but fourth in sales. Barcelona has spent €143M ($192M) to lead the market, with Real in second after spending €110M ($148M). Liverpool (€98.8M) ($132.5M) has spent the third-most, followed by Chelsea (€93.5M) ($125.4M) and Atlético (€88.5M) ($118.7M). The market leaders in sales from transfers are EPL Southampton (€119.5M) ($160.2M), followed by Ligue 1 Monaco (€86.5M) ($116M) and Liverpool (€81M) ($108.6M). Barcelona has earned €79.8M ($107M) on players it has sold (MARCA, 7/29).
