MADRID, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Spanish giants FC Barcelona on Monday night reported they had closed the accounts for the 2016/17 season with record earnings.
It may have been a disappointing season on the pitch for Barca, who were knocked out of the quarter-finals of the Champions League and finished behind Real Madrid in the race for the Liga Santander title, but in financial terms it was a bonanza.
The accounts for the period July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017 confirm the club had earnings of 708 million euros; 13 million euros more than was budgeted for.
That means Barca showed a profit of 18 million euros for a season in which 66 percent of expenditure being on "payment of salaries to athletes."
The official Barcelona website explains the growth is "in line" with the club's strategic plan to have earnings of 1,000 million euros by 2021.
The results also helped to reduce Barcelona's important debt, which now stands at 247 million euros.
A recent article in Forbes Magazine made Barcelona the fourth most valuable sports club in the world, placing them behind, the Dallas Cowboys, the New York Yankees and Manchester United with a value of 3.64 billion euros.
