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In a world-wide context, and especially in Europe, no other sport
attracts greater interest than football.
Broadcasts from the 1998 World Cup were watched by as many as 2.5 billion people. It is said that the total turnover
from activities connected with football is nearing 250 billion pounds a year, which corresponds to the GDP of the
Netherlands or four times the GDP of the Czech Republic.
The richest league competition in the world is the English
Premier League, where the annual income is almoust 700 million pounds (on average almost 30 million per club). Comparable
levels of income (some 20 % lower) are seen in Italy's Serie A, and then Germany and Spain with the French
Division 1 following behind.
The competitions however, differ from one another in the structure of income. All income comes from three
main sources: ticket sales, broadcasting rights (TV), advertising and the sale of football souvenirs. The largest
source of income derived solely from ticket sales is in the Spanish and
German leagues (over 40 % of income), from TV broadcasts in the French league (almost half of its income), and from
advertising and souvenirs sales in the English Premier League (37 %). The highest average salaries are paid by Italian
and English clubs; usually around half of all income goes to players' salaries (in Italy this is more than 66 %, and in
the Bundesliga less than 40 %). After the implementation of the "Bosman Ruling", salaries have soared to astronomic
heights. The best-paid football players net in excess of 20 000 pounds a week and there are now more than 100 such players.
The top fifty best paid footballers are found solely within European clubs. The income of a club is heavily influenced
by attendance rates. The highest rates in
2000/2001 were in England (average of 32 700 spectators per match), followed by Germany (30 300), Italy (29 800),
Mexico (28 200), Spain (24 700) and France (22 300).
The budgets of the biggest clubs exceed the turnover of many significant companies. Manchester United, the richest
club in the world, comes close to the profit of the Skoda-Volkswagen concern with a turnover of 117 million pounds.
The budget at Bayern Műnchen and at Real Madrid follow some way behind, although the Spanish giant is also the club
with the biggest bank debts in football (around 180 million pounds). The top ten richest teams come from England,
Spain, Italy and Germany. Almost half of the top twenty-five richest clubs come from Britain (10 English and
2 Scotish teams), whereas teams from the country of the current holder of the World Cup, France, appear only
at the bottom end of the top twenty.
Brazil's Flamengo and Argentina's Boca Juniors are the richest team outside the old Continent.
Paradoxically, while football was always traditionally a working class game, it is now definitely not a cheap matter. In England, for instance,
the prices of tickets to Premier League matches cost around 22 pounds and come
close to those of theatre or opera performances, which in developed countries are affordable only to the better-off
classes. In all cases, ticket prices have risen at a rate much faster than inflation.
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A preview of the map "The richest football clubs of the world".
The two yellow-framed segments can be viewed in original size or here the full size map can
be viewed. (Attention!!! The size of the whole map is almost 400 kB).
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UEFA Champions League 2000/01 revenue
(excluding gate receipts) |
| club |
CL revenue
(mil.GBP) |
% of club's
budget |
stage in CL |
| Bayern Műnchen |
28.5 |
31 |
winner |
| Lazio |
16.7 |
21 |
group phase 2 |
| Valencia |
16.4 |
48 |
final |
| Manchester United |
15.7 |
13 |
quarterfinals |
| Real Madrid |
15.5 |
15 |
semifinals |
| Leeds United |
15.1 |
26 |
semifinals |
| Arsenal |
14.4 |
23 |
quarterfinals |
| Paris Saint-Germain |
13.6 |
39 |
group phase 2 |
| Milan AC |
13.3 |
15 |
group phase 2 |
| La Coruna |
12.8 |
51 |
quarterfinals |
| Olympique Lyon |
11.9 |
40 |
group phase 2 |
| Bayer Leverkusen |
11.2 |
33 |
group phase 1 |
| Monaco |
10.6 |
42 |
group phase 1 |
| Juventus |
10.5 |
12 |
group phase 1 |
| Hamburger SV |
8.9 |
38 |
group phase 1 |
| Galatasaray |
7.9 |
24 |
quarterfinals |
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Europe (with the exception of the non-footballing Pacific) was the last continent to organise a championship of national
teams, long preceded by South and North America and by a couple of years Africa and Asia. The decision to organise the
first year of competition, called the European Nations' Cup, was taken by the European Football Association (UEFA) as
late as January 1958. A four-year cycle was determined for organising the event in accordance with the organisers of
the Olympic games. The trophy for the winner was called the Coupe Henri Delaunay, in honour of the pioneer of the
competition, a former secretary of UEFA. The first two years of the competition were played in an elimination manner,
and the semifinals and final were then hosted by one selected country. The quality of the first competition suffered
from the non-participation of England, Belgium, Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, Germany, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland,
Scotland, Switzerland, Sweden and Wales, while the second championship was boycotted by Germany and Scotland. No wonder
that the competition was dominated by east European countries! In the semifinals of 1960 three teams were from behind the
Iron Curtain, and four years later teams from the "East" secured second and third place.The third staging of the competition
in 1968, under the name European Championship, brought a new playing system, with participants being divided into
qualification groups by seeded draw, and then playing each team in the group both home and away.
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A preview of the map "Successes in the European
Championship". The two yellow-framed segments can be viewed in original size or
here the full size map can be viewed. (Attention!!! The size of the whole map
is over 500 kB).
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The winners of the groups were drawn to meet in the quarterfinals, again home and
away. From here the teams proceeded to the final rounds (semifinals, third place, final). Czechoslovakia winning the
title in 1976 crowned the era of success for socialist countries. Another change in the playing system took place at
the championship held in Italy in 1980. For the first time, eight countries proceeded to the finals - seven qualification
group winners and the home team. This left 4-member groups whose winners then played for first place, and the losers
for third place. At the tournament in France four years later, the consolation match to determine the third-place team
was cancelled and both beaten semifinalists received bronze medals, as is the case in boxing. The ninth staging of the European
Championship, which took place in Sweden, brought one of the biggest surprises in the history of international football.
Yugoslavia had originally qualified for the finals, but due to the war and the break-up of the country, the team was
disqualified. Two weeks before the beginning of the tournament, the ninth best team from the qualification rounds -
Denmark, substituted the Yugoslavs. The team, made up of veterans who plied their trade away from Denmark, shocked the
football public by winning the tournament.
The break-up of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and the division of Czechoslovakia contributed to doubling the number of
participants in the finals in England in 1996. Another contributing factor was the pressure on some of the "bigger"
countries to qualify. In the 1980s, for example, 14 teams from Europe advanced to the World Cup Finals and only seven
(plus the host) to the European Championships. The non-qualification of countries like England, France, Italy and the
Netherlands obviously had a negative impact on the commercial success of the competition. The last European Championships
(2000), for the first time in history, was organised by two countries - Belgium and the Netherlands. At the time of writing,
with the exception of Portugal (host of Euro 2004) and Russia, the list of countries able to organise the championship on
an appropriate level (given the sufficient capacity of their stadia) has been exhausted. In the year 2000, the system
adopted in England was used with the first two teams of four 4-member groups advancing to an elimination tournament to
determine the winner.
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Italy, San Marino and Malta |
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Italy is said to be a country devoted to football, yet the name of the sport in
this country is not "football", originally English, and now a truly international name. In Italy, on the Apennines
peninsula, the game that every day attracts the attention of millions of supporters is called calcio. The English
"invented" football in the 19th century, but a somewhat wilder form of it was already practised in Florence and later in other
Italian towns in the Middle Ages. The history of modern football with all its rules is really connected with the
British Isles, and the Italians do not deny this. Indeed the names of many Italian clubs proudly relate to the
English founders. The oldest club which still exists, for example, was founded in 1893 in Genoa under the name Genoa
Cricket and Football Club. In Italy there was a period in history when everything "non-Italian" was banished.Benito
Mussolini's fascist dictatorship (1922-1945) systematically returned to the era of the world-dominating Roman Empire
and the English sounding names of football clubs were frowned upon by the ideologists. Genoa and Milan became
"Italianised" and abbreviations for Football Club or Sporting Club disappeared. Inter Milan also had to repudiate its
"insufficiently patriotic" name and use Ambrosiana instead.
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A preview of the regional map of Italy, San Marino and Malta
(on the right) along with the legend and emblems of football associations. The two yellow-framed segments can
be viewed in original size or here the full size map can be viewed. (Attention!!! The
size of the whole map is over 1000 kB).
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As soon as it was possible, however, everything returned back to normal. In the 1970s and 1980s, in connection with the
transformation of the clubs into joint-stock companies, the magic word "calcio" began to appear in the name of a
number of clubs. It was therefore no longer AC Torino, but Torino Calcio, similarly Cagliari (formerly US) or
Vicenza (formerly Lanerossi).
On 26th March 1898 the Italian Football Federation was established and in a single day (8th May 1898) the entire
competition for the year was played. Four clubs participated, three of which were from the organising Torino
(Internazionale di Torino, FC Torinese, Ginnastica di Torino), but the visiting Genoa CFC emerged victorious. The league
then gradually took on more teams, although at first it was the domain of the more developed Italian north - Torino, Milan
and Genoa. It was only from 1913 that teams from the south, especially from Rome and Naples, started playing in the
league, although the promising progress of the competition was interrupted by the First World War. The league was then played
in two groups (Lega Nord and Lega Sud), but in the 1929/30 season the traditional system was adopted with 18 clubs
participating, resulting in the foundation of a so-called Serie A (linking lower competitions Serie B, Serie C1 and
Serie C2). The Italian Cup (Copa Italia) has been held regularly since 1922. The best football is concentrated in the
rich north, especially in the Po Valley and in the capital. Only Naples, Bari and Cagliari regularly represent the
underdeveloped South.
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| Famous Italian clubs |
| club name |
year est. |
stadium name |
stadium capacity |
average gate (2000/01 season) |
season ticket holders (2000/01) |
pitch size(m) |
nickname |
budget in mil. GBP (1998/99) |
| Atalanta |
1904 |
Atleti Azzurri d'Italia |
26,542 |
19,630 |
12,135 |
105 x 66 |
Orobci - after the region |
12.0 |
| Bari |
1908 |
San Nicola |
58,270 |
13,647 |
8,036 |
105 x 68 |
Galletti - Little Roosters |
14.7 |
| Bologna |
1909 |
Renato Dall' Ara |
38,550 |
25,767 |
19,606 |
105 x 68 |
Felsinei - after old Roman name of town |
21.8 |
| Brescia |
1911 |
Mario Rigamonti |
27,547 |
15,490 |
10,800 |
105 x 68 |
Rondinelle - Swallows |
11.0 |
| Cagliari |
1920 |
Sant' Elia |
39,905 |
18,868 |
5,333 |
105 x 68 |
Isolani - Islanders |
9.7 |
| Fiorentina |
1926 |
Artemio Franchi |
47,232 |
29,885 |
22,261 |
105 x 68 |
Viola - Violet |
23.9 |
| Genoa 1893 |
1893 |
Luigi Ferraris |
40,122 |
14,500 |
11,841 |
106 x 68 |
Rossoblu - Red-blue |
9.5 |
| Hellas Verona |
1903 |
Marc' Antonio Bentegodi |
44.758 |
17,777 |
10,018 |
105 x 67 |
Scaligeri - after the old Ducal Dynasty |
10.8 |
| Internazionale |
1908 |
Giuseppe Meazza |
85,700 |
50,950 |
43,632 |
105 x 68 |
Nerazzurri - Black-blue |
49.1 |
| Juventus |
1897 |
Delle Alpi |
71,012 |
38,630 |
35,446 |
105 x 68 |
Vecchia Signora - Old Lady |
58.5 |
| Lazio |
1900 |
Olimpico |
82,307 |
48,498 |
36,351 |
105 x 67 |
Laziali - residents of Lazio |
50.0 |
| Milan AC |
1899 |
Giuseppe Meazza |
85,700 |
52,448 |
40,704 |
105 x 68 |
Diavoli - Devils |
54.1 |
| Napoli |
1926 |
San Paolo |
78,000 |
39,875 |
23,419 |
105 x 68 |
Partenopei - after Greek name of town |
20.0 |
| Parma |
1913 |
Ennio Tardini |
29,149 |
19,748 |
13,810 |
105 x 68 |
Parmigiani - residents of Parma |
44.4 |
| Roma |
1927 |
Olimpico |
82,307 |
63,370 |
46,129 |
105 x 67 |
Lupi - Wolves |
39.4 |
| Sampdoria |
1946 |
Luigi Ferraris |
40,122 |
15,591 |
11,434 |
105 x 68 |
Blucerchiati - after appearance of kits |
15.0 |
| Torino |
1906 |
Delle Alpi |
71,012 |
17,947 |
10,292 |
105 x 68 |
Granata - Garnet |
11.2 |
| Udinese |
1896 |
Friuli |
41,632 |
20,136 |
15,341 |
105 x 68 |
Friulani - residents of Friuli |
15.5 |
| Venezia |
1907 |
Pierluigi Penzo |
13,370 |
6,315 |
3,538 |
105 x 65 |
Lagunari - people from the lagoon |
10.6 |
| Vicenza |
1902 |
Romeo Menti |
20,920 |
14,990 |
11,572 |
105 x 68 |
Biancorossi - White-red |
20.0
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Football competitions have been played in San Marino since 1937, the same year the Coppa
Titano (Titan's Cup), named after the local mountain, was inaugurated. The first year of the league competition, with all
17 existing clubs participating, was inaugurated in the 1985/86 season. These days the 16 teams are divided into two
groups, and the six best go forward to play-offs to compete for the title.
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Malta,a former British colony, founded its football association in 1900. The league, nowadays
half-professional, was set up ten years later, and the Maltese Cup followed in 1935. All games in the highest competition
are played at the only three grounds with a grass surface. There are reasons for this curiosity: a very dry climate makes
it difficult for individual clubs to maintain a pitch, and clubs are only a few kilometres away from one another. The
average league gate is 850 spectators per match.
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An extract from the Atlas index (part of F)
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The index lists the names of clubs (including name changes over the years with extensive cross-referencing),
villages/towns or cities and countries (states and dependencies) and shows the page where such information appears on a map.
There are several different kinds of entries in the index. The so-called main entries of clubs provide the following information
(if it is known): the name of the club in full, the town, country, year of foundation [development of changes in name,
possible mergers, splits, termination, renewal], and the page number. Secondary club entries - in non-bold type - help
searches for clubs only if the perivous name is known or if the name is spelled either inaccurately or incompletely. The town
listed in the index can be found on the map either directly or as part of a club name.
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FC Banats Kotayk (Football Club Banats Kotayk), Kotayk, Armenia, club, f. in 1992 [diss. in 1995], see p. 97
FC Banats Yerevan (Football Club Banats Yerevan), Yerevan, Armenia, club, see p. 97
FC Baník Ostrava (Football Club Baník Ostrava), Ostrava, Czech Republic, club, f. in 1922, [1922-48 SK Slezská Ostrava, 48 Sokol Slezská Ostrava, 49-51 Sokol Trojice Slezská Ostrava, 51-52 ZSJ OKD Ostrava, 52-61 TJ Baník Ostrava, 61-70 TJ Baník Ostrava, 70-90 TJ Baník Ostrava OKD, 90-94 FC Baník Ostrava, 94-95 TJ Baník Ostrava Tango], see p. 86
FC Baník Ostrava Tango see FC Baník Ostrava
FC Barcelona (Fútbol Club Barcelona), Barcelona, Spain, club, f. in 1899 [1899-1941FC Barcelona, 41-74 CF Barcelona] see p. 79
FC Barcelone (Football Club Barcelone), Burundi, club, see p. 119
FC Barreirense (Fútebol Clube Barreirense), Barreiro, Portugal, club, f. in 1911 see p. 78
FC Barwaqo see Fratacci
FC Basel (Fußball Club Basel), Basle (Basel), Switzeland, club, f. in 1893 see p. 82
FC Batumi see FC Dinamo Batumi
FC Bavaria 1902 Kaiserslautern see 1.FC Kaiserslautern
FC Bayer 05 Uerdingen see KFC Uerdingen 05
FC Bayern München (Fußball Club Bayern München), Mnichov (München), Germany, club, f. in 1900, [1906-19 MTV 1879 Münchener
SC, 19 merger with TV Jahn München => TuSpv Jahn München (19-23), 23 brake-up => TV Jahn München and FC Bayern München], see p. 85
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THE FIRST WORLD ATLAS OF FOOTBALL