With more than 3.5 billion fans worldwide, football is the world’s most popular sport–and Europe’s “Big Five” professional leagues comprise its dynamic epicenter, showcasing the game’s dazzling appeal and momentum better than anywhere else on earth.

Record attendance in the 2022-2023 season tells the story. An average 40,267 fans turned out to watch England’s Premier League this year, a new all-time high–which was edged out only by Germany’s Bundesliga, which reported highest attendance of all European football leagues, with an average of over 43,000 fans flocking to stadiums. Attendance in Spain’s LaLiga also increased to more than 11 million, while France’s Ligue 1 set its own record at just over 9.05 million. Finally, Italy’s Serie A posted its best figures since the turn of the century, as an average 29,495 fans headed through stadium gates.

And revenues are following suit. In the 2021-22 season, the Big Five generated record aggregate revenues of $18.1 billion, according to Deloitte–outperforming the pre-pandemic benchmark of $17.9 billion set in 2018-19. While the numbers aren’t in yet, it’s a safe bet that the 2022-2023 season will set yet another new record.

As revenue grows, so do partnership price tags–like adidas’s deal with Manchester United announced late last month, which will see the German powerhouse extend its jersey collaboration with the team to the tune of $115 million a year through 2035–a Premier League record.

Against this backdrop, sponsorships are also evolving, as brands and teams look to innovate in the face of ever-growing audiences and shifting demographics. They’re becoming more customised and multifaceted, with singular activations, a burgeoning emphasis on social media engagement, and a nod to social issues like sustainability and gender equity–and connecting with more fans than ever before in the process.  

European football itself is changing dramatically too, as challenger leagues like MLS and SPL lure global superstars like Messi and Ronaldo to new markets–creating unprecedented marketing opportunities around the globe in the process.

For all these reasons and more, we’re excited to unveil the European Football Report 2022-23. Authored jointly by SponsorUnited’s Marketing Research & Insights, Analytics and Marketing teams, it delivers an in-depth analysis of more than 3,500 brands, 200 athletes, and nearly 44,000 social posts between July 10, 2022 and July 15, 2023.

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