After a steady growth in revenue from Portuguese football, the 2019/2020 football season ended not only with the growth cycle of recent years, but also with a loss of 135 million euros, justified by the suspension of the II League and games behind closed doors.

Compared to the 2018/2019 season, the current scenario is one of deep crisis. Last season, Portuguese football generated 2600 new direct jobs, contributed with more than 549 million euros to Portuguese GDP (0.27%), an increase of more than 153 million euros compared to the previous season of 2017/2018, and generated a turnover of 851 million euros.

The 12% growth that occurred until March 2020, has now given way to a dramatic scenario, like other Portuguese sectors, with television revenues that have disappeared, television programs without a topic for discussion, football clubs with late payments to players and the players themselves with physical capacity impaired by the forced stop and consequent devaluation of their market value.

In television rights it is estimated that the loss would have been of 52 million euros and 23.4 million in commercial and ticket activity.

For this new season, it is essential that fans are allowed to return to the football game benches, even if in smaller numbers and always respecting the rules imposed by Portuguese health entities, and centralize television rights with a new competitive model and the financial sustainability of football clubs, themes that the pandemic made clear that need to be worked on.