Benfica Finances 2023/24

Dance Stance

Benfica’s 2023/24 accounts cover a season where they finished second in the Primeira Liga, which was pretty good by most clubs’ standards, but has to be considered a disappointment for the club from Lisbon, especially after they won the league the previous season. President Rui Costa, the former player (and football legend), admitted, “This fell short of what we intended in terms of sport.”

The club reached the semi-finals of both domestic cups, losing to Sporting in the Taca de Portugal and Estoril (on penalties) in the Taca da Liga. In addition, they were eliminated in the Europa League quarter-finals by Marseille (again on penalties) after dropping down from the Champions League, where they finished third in their group.

After a poor start to this season, German head coach Roger Schmidt was replaced by Bruno Lage, who returned to Benfica after stints at Wolverhampton Wanderers and Botafogo.

League Position

Benfica had enjoyed a purple patch in the six years up to 2018/19, when they won the league title on five occasions. Since then, they have only once finished top of the tree, while they have twice ended up in third place. It is worth noting that the last time that they finished outside the top three was way back in 2007/08.

Profit/(Loss) 2023/24

In 2023/24 Benfica swung from a €2m profit before tax to a €31m loss, a deterioration of €33m, as revenue fell €17m (9%) from €196m to €179m and profit from player sales dropped €6m (8%) from €64m to €58m.

This was exacerbated by operating expenses increasing €6m (3%) to €252m and net interest payable rising by a third from €12m to €16m.

The net result after tax went from a €4m profit to a €31m loss.

Rui Costa attributed the loss to the Euros, which delayed activity in the summer transfer window, thus reducing the club’s ability to make money from player sales. The president said that a profit would have been “easily achievable” without this timing factor.

The main driver of Benfica’s lower revenue was less progress in the Champions League, which led to broadcasting falling by €24m (19%) from €125m to €101m.

This was partially offset by increases in the other revenue streams, especially commercial, which rose €5.7m (16%) from €36.7m to €42.4m, while match day was up €1.8m (4%) from €33.9m to €35.5m.

Benfica reduced the wage bill by €4m (4%) from €115m to €111m, but player amortisation increased €2m (6%) from €39m to €41m, while player impairment was up from €0.7m to €3.7m. Other expenses also rose €5m (6%) to €88m.

Benfica’s €31m pre-tax loss is actually the worst reported to date for 2023/24, ahead of Porto’s €23m. In stark contrast, a couple of their principal Portuguese rivals both posted good profits, namely Braga €14m and Sporting €12m.