Tottenham post world-record profit of 113 million British pounds

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Tottenham Hotspur made a world-record profit of 113 million British pounds (147.82 million U.S. dollars) after tax last year, the Premier League club reported on Thursday – the day after they officially opened their new 62,000-seater stadium.

With income rising sharply as a result of player sales, hosting home matches at Wembley and a Champions League run, Tottenham's profit surpassed the 106 million pounds (138.66 million U.S. dollars) reported by Liverpool earlier this year.

Tottenham became the first Premier League club not to make any signings in the summer transfer window last year and also failed to add to their squad in January.

The club was supposed to move into their new stadium, the cost of which has risen to one billion pounds (1.3 billion U.S. dollars), at the start of the current season but a series of delays meant home matches had to be played at Wembley.

While it was a frustrating wait, the extra capacity at Wembley allowed Tottenham to sell around 340,000 extra tickets, according to its boss Daniel Levy.

Tottenham's income rose from 310 million pounds (405 million U.S. dollars) to a new club record 380 million pounds (497.02 million U.S. dollars), with Premier League matchday revenue rising from 19 million to 42.6 million pounds (24.85 million to 55.7 million U.S. dollars).

The club's Champions League revenue also rose to 53 million pounds (69.33 million U.S. dollars) after reaching the last 16 in 2017-18. This season they have reached the quarter-finals and will face Premier League rivals Manchester City this month.

Tottenham, currently third in the table, continued to lag behind their top-six rivals in terms of players' wages, spending 147 million pounds (192.26 million U.S. dollars) – about half that of Manchester United and 100 million pounds (130.80 million U.S. dollars) less than Arsenal.

While Tottenham posted record profits, they have borrowed heavily to finance the new stadium with the loan increasing to 537 million pounds (702.37 million U.S. dollars) compared to the initial 400 million pounds (523.18 million U.S. dollars).

(Top image: Tottenham Hotspur's South Korean soccer player Son Heung-min (C) celebrates scoring the first goal during the team's first match at its newly-built home stadium which ended 2-0 over Crystal Palace, in London, UK, April 3, 2019. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): Reuters