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Football is the beautiful game that brings in billions of dollars every year as the world’s most popular sport. There’s been no shortage of controversy with the World Cup in Qatar. Yet most people learn and follow football through leading clubs like Liverpool and Manchester City in England, Juventus and AC Milan in Italy or Barcelona and Real Madrid in Spain.

It is these clubs that make the spectacle of football possible. On the outside, the biggest football clubs seem successful - they win trophies, pay high salaries, play on the biggest stages, and sign the best players. As these clubs achieve success on the field, their brands get stronger, which grows the fanbase, and fuels revenue. The business seems simple enough. And with so many famous clubs all over Europe, this flywheel must work.

But in reality, football clubs are businesses that are barely cash flow positive and bankrupt themselves to sustain on-the-field success. They say that if they keep winning, money will materialize in the future to offset costs today. Or these clubs operate at losses with the goal of one day flipping the team for billions in appreciation.

Whether they’re run by corporations or sheiks - a successful football club, simply put, is an unprofitable one. In this episode, we’ll look at the problematic business of football clubs through Manchester United, Juventus, and Barcelona - and how it is only a matter of time before every successful football club is run by a rich oligarch looking for their latest passion project.

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🎧 Audio Editing & Mixing: Sonalf

0:00 The Beautiful Game
6:01 Glory Glory Man Utd
12:55 Atoms For Sale
17:29 Storia Di Un Grande Amor
23:32 Barca, Barca, Baaarca!
28:50 A Virtuous Cycle