392.1 million euros - RFEF budget for 2024

The Assembly of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), meeting today in an extraordinary session, approved by majority (70 votes in favour, 2 against and one abstention) the Federation’s budget for the year 2024. This budget has been set at 392.1 million euros, which represents an increase of 2.55% when compared to 2023.

The budgets, as highlighted by the Treasurer of the Management Committee, Eduardo Bandrés, "aim to provide all RFEF bodies with the financial tools needed to continue to develop their day to day activities, updating the main spending programmes and incorporating new obligations related to some of the year’s targets". Bandrés, during the presentation of the figures to the Assembly, reminded the Assembly that 2024, in this sense, must take into account the participation of the national teams in the European Championship and the Olympic Games. 

The approved budget is based fundamentally on the income obtained from ordinary contracts related to audiovisual rights, sponsorship, federation services or our own competitions; and the expenses are focused on maintaining the programmes and aid plans for different levels and categories of Spanish football, as well as the presence of our national teams in international tournaments. It also includes items earmarked for the 2030 World Cup bid.

Broadcasting income and sponsorship, the most important sources of income

In terms of income, the item with the largest volume is Broadcasting Rights, with a total of 117.7 million euros (30% of the total), which includes the income obtained from the commercialisation of the television rights for the Copa del Rey, those from matches played by the national teams and those derived from the 2% of centralised professional football TV rights sales.

Sponsorships, for their part, account for 78.2 million in income, which represents 20% of the total, so half of the income is made from broadcasting rights alone and what is received from the different companies and institutions that associate their image with the national teams and the federation itself.

Other important sources of income are the participation in and organisation of competitions and sporting events - among which the European Championships stands out - which will contribute 38.7 million Euros to the budget; income from licenses and federation services (19.6 million) and the expected income from ticket sales (13.9 million).

Also on the revenue side, the coordination agreement with the Professional Football League, a large part of which is earmarked for amateur and grassroots football, amounts to 19.1 million. The income from refereeing, which is used for remuneration, training and expenses related to refereeing activities, amounted to 48.1 million.  Finally, subsidies from the Consejo Superior de Deportes for the 2030 World Cup bid (7.5 million euros), sports facilities (1.5 million) and other activities (1 million), represent 2.6% of all RFEF income.

Continuity in expenditure 

In terms of the expenditure foreseen in the budget, there is also continuity with the usual programmes that form the basis of the RFEF's activities: aid to non-professional clubs in different types of football and to the territorial federations; the distribution of broadcasting income and income from competitions organised by the RFEF (Copa del Rey and Supercopa) among the professional clubs; and refereeing expenses, are some of the main items.

In particular, expenses and aid to clubs and non-professional competitions amount to 84.5 million euros; aid to territorial federations, 31 million; and aid to the youth academy programmes values, 10.3 million. All of this, with a total amount of almost 126 million euros, represents almost a third of the total expenditure, maintaining the same programmes and activities as in the previous year. To this must be added the 9.5 million euros that will be earmarked for the social protection of women's and amateur football.

The expenses associated with the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup foresee the allocation of a total of 37.1 million euros to the professional clubs participating in both competitions. And another of the outgoings with the highest volume of expenditure corresponds to all of the RFEF's refereeing activities, mainly that of professional competitions. In terms of refereeing expenses, the 2024 budget includes a total of 51.0 million euros (13% of the total). 

To these are added the expenses stemming from the participation of the national teams in their respective competitions, and all the investments and expenses related to the 2030 World Cup bid are also included.  Specifically, a total of 64.4 million euros will be allocated to the national teams, including technical structure, sports equipment and expenses from international competitions, while the planned expenditure dedicated to the 2030 World Cup totals 10.8 million euros.

Other expenses, such as those related to personnel (22.7 million euros) or the operation of the different management areas (14.7 million euros) have not registered any variations.