FACTBOX-European clubs and the financial crisis

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Nov 19 - Following is a brief look at the impact of the global financial crisis on soccer clubs in top European leagues:

* ENGLAND:

-- The Premier League is in the second year of a 1.7 billion pounds ($2.6 billion), three-season broadcasting deal, meaning the finances of the 20 clubs in the top division are largely insulated against the financial crisis.

-- Unlike in Spain, where top clubs can demand more broadcasting revenue than the also-rans, all 20 English Premier League clubs cash in. Fifty percent of the television deal is split between all the clubs, with 25 percent based on league position and another 25 percent on TV appearances.

-- The Abu Dhabi takeover of Manchester City has poured millions of petro-dollars into an English game already awash with foreign cash.

-- However, the situation is not all rosy. West Ham United has been particularly hard hit in the economic downturn, losing its shirt sponsor and discovering that its Icelandic owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson is considering selling his assets after his country's banking system went into meltdown.

-- Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley is also struggling to sell the club for a profit -- a sign perhaps that the seemingly never-ending queue of billionaire buyers may be thinking twice about investing in English football.

* FRANCE:

-- French soccer clubs regard themselves as healthier, if not wealthier, than their counterparts in the major European leagues.

-- The French League (LFP) has kept clubs under constant and strict financial surveillance, which they used to blame for disappointing results in Europe but are now thankful for.

-- Champions Olympique Lyon are the only club in France listed on the stock market and they have lost almost half their market value since U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers went bankrupt in September.

-- They have, however, stuck with a plan for a new 62,000 capacity stadium to open by 2013.

-- Ligue 1 television rights were sold earlier this year in a four-year collective deal and the slight drop in attendances this season is mainly due to popular club Racing Lens having been relegated to Ligue 2.

* GERMANY:

-- Top German soccer clubs including Bayern Munich have become the most profitable in Europe, overtaking the Premier League despite the latter's growing lead in revenue, according to a report by consultancy firm Deloitte earlier this year.

-- As such, German clubs are much better placed to withstand the financial crisis than their rivals in Spain and Italy.

-- German profitability reflects clubs' ability to keep players' salaries under control. English clubs spend about two thirds of their revenue on players' salaries, while German clubs allocate about 45 percent, Deloitte said.

-- Prudence at German clubs is maintained as some teams are still considered non-profit organisations and a law prohibits any individual from owning a controlling stake in any club.

* ITALY:

-- Income from television rights is the financial backbone of Italian soccer clubs and most of the TV deals in Serie A are with public broadcaster RAI and private groups Mediaset and Sky.

-- Current contracts expire in 2010, when the rights will be sold collectively by the Lega Calcio as opposed to each club negotiating separately as is the case currently.

-- Soccer sponsorship, meanwhile, has suffered an especially pronounced slump in Italy with Lazio and Palermo among those without logos on their shirts.

-- Even before the global credit crisis began to bite, top clubs such as AC Milan were complaining that Italian tax law made it more difficult to sign the best players.

-- Falling attendances and crumbling stadiums continue to pose problems and leading clubs fret about future television deals with Italian soccer no longer selling as well abroad as Spanish and English matches.

* SPAIN:

-- Real Madrid and Barcelona, the wealthiest and third richest clubs in the world with television and sponsorship deals worth hundreds of millions of euros, are largely insulated from the financial crisis, analysts and officials say.

-- However lower down the league at least six clubs including second-tier sides Real Sociedad, Celta Vigo and Levante, are in administration and more may follow as the recession takes hold.

-- Many clubs are trapped in a vicious circle of surging transfer fees, swelling wage bills and spiralling debts, and the credit crisis has restricted access to bank funding.

-- A steep decline in advertising revenue is likely to hurt the clubs and the television companies that pay the massive fees for broadcast rights that are the most important source of income for the 42 sides in the top two divisions.

-- Selling off real estate is an escape route that has been exploited by some clubs but the crisis in the construction sector, which has close links to soccer through the ownership of clubs, has all but closed off that option.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman in London, Mark Meadows and Antonella Ciancio in Milan, Kevin Fylan in Berlin, Bertrand Boucey in Paris and Iain Rogers in Madrid; Editing by David Cutler and Ken Ferris)

(kenneth.ferris@reuters.com; +44 20 7542 7933; Reuters messaging: kenneth.ferris.reuters.com@reuters.net; For the latest Reuters Premier League and international football news see: http://football.uk.reuters.com/)

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This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index

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