Italian professional football clubs lost €3.6 billion between 2019 and 2022 due to Covid and pandemic-related restrictions, according to an annual report.

According to the 2023 edition of ReportCalcio published by the Italian Football Federation, the top three divisions lost an average of €1.2 billion per year during the Covid period, while their cumulative losses were €412 million in 2018-19, before the pandemic.

Losses for the 2021-22 season alone, the last considered for this report, amounted to €1.4 billion, "the worst ever recorded in the 15 years that this annual report has been published," it said.

The indebtedness of Italian professional football reached €5.6 billion in 2021-22, a 4.4 per cent increase over one year.

The authors of the report welcomed the joint candidacy of Italy and Turkey to host Euro 2032 as "a unique opportunity" to increase ticketing revenue by modernising a fleet of notoriously outdated stadiums.

Ticketing revenue for all Italian professional football was €254 million in 2021-22, compared to 226 million a year earlier, but still far from the 341 million of 2018-19, the last season before the pandemic.

By comparison, Manchester United alone generated €126 million in ticketing revenue in 2021-22, according to the Deloitte report.