Premier League owe 56%

A report to be released by UEFA on the financial wellbeing of European football will reveal that Premier League clubs owe 56% of the continent's total footballing debt, raising further questions about why English football's finances have been allowed to spiral out of control.

The biggest worry for Premier League clubs is that both West Ham and financially stricken Portsmouth are not even included in the official report, called the "European Footballing Landscape", as their monetary problems prohibited them from being given UEFA licenses, meaning that the figures for English clubs would be even higher.

The Premier League debt comes despite England's clubs earning significantly more from televsion and other commercial income - €122 million on average - than any of Europe's other major league

Details of the report, released in the Guardian on Wednesday, reveal that the combined debts of the 18 Premier League clubs, excluding West Ham and Pompey, sit at £3.5 billion, with two of England's biggest clubs, Manchester United and Liverpool, owing around £1 billion between them.