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Barcelona forward Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring a goal during the UEFA Champions League final vs. Manchester United, on May 28, 2011 at Wembley stadium. (Lluis Gene/AFP/Getty Images)
Although the English champions Manchester United did not win the UEFA European Champions League trophy on English turf at London’s famous Wembley Stadium, the financial income from opponents’ Barcelona’s traveling fans and other global football followers has netted the English capital over £45 million in revenue, according to financial agents.
As the winning Spanish club will cheer away with a record £112 million in prize money and runners-up Man U will tear back up the motorway with a handsome £60 million but no heart-pumping glory, they leave London hotels with an estimated increase of 68% in bookings.
However, Stephen Dunham on the Daily Sport Thought blog has drawn attention to the prickly issue of tax.
London businesses will pay tax on this revenue at the financial year’s end, as will the English Football Association (FA) which receives a payment from the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for the use of Wembley Stadium.
UEFA itself will not be staying in the UK long enough to incur UK taxes. Two years ago, UEfA said UK tax laws were too prohibitive for the staging of the 2010 Champions League final. The game was played in Madrid.
Manchester United's Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar fails to save a goal scored by Barcelona's Spanish forward David Villa (not pictured) during the UEFA Champions League final football match. (Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images)
Special legislation came into place with the 2006 Finance Act to enable the Olympic Games to come to the UK in 2012. The International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s stay before, during and after the Games will not meet with any tax liabilities.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) nearly lost the hosting of the 2009 Twenty20 World Cup because of similar difficulties with the International Cricket Council.
Barcelona’s prize money will be subject to Spanish law as Man United will be to other English law.
When Tottenham reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup in 2006/7 they are reported to have eared earned £2,917,724 for ten games. The next season, the four English qualifiers for the Champions League, each took £3,646,272 for the group stages,There is no combined London football team, just as there is no combined UK team, but football and non-football enterprises in London and the UK have benefited from the prestigious final.
