Go Ahead Eagles and Heracles Almelo are the financially soundest clubs in the Eredivisie, according to figures from the KNVB Football International have been lined up. Sparta Rotterdam, RKC Waalwijk and SC Cambuur are also doing well when it comes to the money. PSV is precisely in the danger zone. Missing out on Champions League income is felt by the people of Eindhoven.
The clubs are screened annually by the KNVB through a so-called Financial Rating System. The football association works with a maximum score of forty points. If a club scores less than fifteen points, the KNVB takes action. A mandatory scan then follows, after which a plan of action is required. With 37 points, Go Ahead Eagles is the healthiest club in the Netherlands according to the football association. “All right, right? When you’re this close to the maximum number, you know you’re not doing badly,” says general manager Jan Willem van Dop. “Not to pat ourselves on the back, but when I came, this had already been started a bit under Hans de Vroome (former chairman of Go Ahead, ed.).”
“First the costs, then the benefits”, continues Van Dop. “Then it was about youth academy, for example. Yes, that was important, but no matter how good the idea was, no, not a cent more than 150,000 euros was allowed. The contracts are also a good example. When we obtained our PhD, we continued with this in line with the Kitchen Champion Division, we are not going to suddenly create hydrocephalus.” Van Dop has also anticipated the corona pandemic at Go Ahead Eagles. “When the pandemic broke out, we sat down the following Saturday and immediately went through the budget with a dust-comb. The first thing we did was hand in ten percent ourselves. That seems normal to me when you start calling on others.”
Heracles Almelo ends in the ‘ranking’ for healthy clubs right behind Go Ahead with 36 points. “Ah, first or second, 36 or 38… We don’t look at it that way. We just have to pay our bills properly. it’s not that hard. Call us an atypical club,” said general manager Rob Toussaint. It should come as no surprise that Ajax, given its success in the Champions League, is in the top three. The income from the European adventure of the Amsterdammers already amounts to about seventy million euros. Ajax won 1-2 at Besiktas on Wednesday evening, earning a profit premium of 2.8 million euros.
Missing out on the income from the billion-dollar ball makes sense at PSV. Due to the loss to Benfica in the last qualifying round of the Champions League, the club alone saw a starting premium of 15.65 million euros. With sixteen points, the club remains just outside the KNVB’s alarm zone. “Just on the right side of the line”, is the response from Eindhoven. PEC Zwolle (14 points), NEC (4 points) and Fortuna Sittard (2 points) are the worst and are in the so-called ‘red category’.