The 36 clubs and capital companies of the League Association achieved during the 2010-11 season their seventh straight revenue record. Despite a difficult economic environment, the clubs generated a total of 2.23 billion Euro last season (nearly 2 billion Euro from the Bundesliga).

Within the past four years, revenue has increased 18.9 percent (24 percent in the Bundesliga). The DFL League Association announced the figures this week during the presentation of the Bundesliga Report in Frankfurt am Main.

Seifert: "Bundesliga more popular than ever with fans, sponsors and media partners""

Enlarge image Nigerian Chinedu Obasi during a Bundesliga match for his new club Schalke 04 (© picture alliance / augenklick/La) The measures for an improved cost control approved by the clubs in August 2010 have borne fruit. With that, professional football continues to have a strong outlook of remaining a success story, also because the Bundesliga is as popular as never before with fans, sponsors and media partners,” said Christian Seifert, Chief Executive Officer of the DFL executive board.

Professional football recorded growth in all central income categories (revenues from advertising, media and professional football). After a loss last year (minus 78 million Euro) the Bundesliga turned things around and achieved a profit of 52.5 million Euro after taxes. In addition, the liabilities of the Bundesliga clubs in the core business dropped about 50 million Euro from 644 million Euro the year before to about 594 million Euro. The 2. Bundesliga lowered its losses about one-quarter to 18.9 million Euro (previous year: 25.3 million Euro).

Just as in previous years, professional football remained a prominent taxpayer in Germany. The clubs and capital companies paid 719 million Euro (previous year: 700 million Euro) in taxes and duties – more than ever before in professional football s history. And for the first time, more than 14,000 people are employed directly by the clubs or their subsidiaries.