AS Monaco’s dilemma

AS Monaco face a difficult financial balancing act.   In 2014-15, the club made €117m, less than a third of Paris Saint-Germain’s total for the same campaign.  With little match-day and commercial revenue, they are very reliant on Champions League qualification.    They can make €2m from a Champions League game.  This means remaining competitive on the pitch while seeking to maximise profits in the transfer market, a difficult balancing act.

AS Monaco face a difficult financial balancing act.   In 2014-15, the club made €117m, less than a third of Paris Saint-Germain’s total for the same campaign.  With little match-day and commercial revenue, they are very reliant on Champions League qualification.    They can make €2m from a Champions League game.  This means remaining competitive on the pitch while seeking to maximise profits in the transfer market, a difficult balancing act.

It can easily go wrong, as it did in 2013, when they spent £111m on signing three players.   It wasn’t sustsinable given that they struggle to attract crowds of 6,000 for most of their league matches.  They fell foul of Uefa’s financial fair play rules, were fined €13m and told they must break even by 2017.

They don’t have a good catchment area for crowds.   Italy is 25 minutes drive to the east, to the north the mountains, to the west Nice with its own club and to the south the sea.  The population of the principality is less than 40,000, so getting 10,000 in the stadium is impressive.

Vice-president Vadim Vasilyev argues, ‘What we do have is a strong brand and probably the wealthiest potential audience in the world.  We have to tap into this potential – these potential clients of ours.  This we will achieve by (a) keeping the sporting results and (b) reorganising the stadium and being able to provide hospitality of the highest standard, which at the moment we don’t have.’

However, how many of Moanco’s tax exiles are interested in football and AS Monaco in particular?