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nglish Premier League club, Arsenal have confirmed they have taken out a UK£120 million (AUD$210 million) loan from the Bank of England due to the financial issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The loan was provided as part of a UK government scheme designed to support businesses facing cash flow problems due to COVID-19 and is to be paid back before the end of May along with interest.

In a statement, Arsenal said: “As we continue to work through the implications of the global pandemic on our finances, we can confirm today that the club has met the criteria set by the Bank of England for the COVID Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF).”

“As a result, we are taking a short-term UK£120 million loan through this facility to partially assist in managing the impact of the revenue losses attributable to the pandemic.

“This is a similar approach to that taken by a wide variety of major organisations across many industries including sport, and is repayable in May 2021.

“The CCFF is designed to provided short-term finance at commercial rates during the pandemic to companies that have strong investment ratings and which make significant contributions to the British economy.

“The CCFF is in addition to the loan provided by our owners Kroenke, Sports & Entertainment that enabled us to refinance the debt on Emirates Stadium in August last year,” the statement said.

The loan follows Arsenal’s moves to secure the financial stability of the top-flight football club during the pandemic, which includes making 55 roles across several departments redundant and the majority of players agreeing to 12.5% pay cuts.

The club has confirmed the financial boost will not be used in any way to help Arsenal attract new players in the transfer market, similar to London rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, who borrowed a reported UK£175 million (AUD$306 million) in June of 2020.

This loan secured by Tottenham followed the club revealing their estimated revenue loss from June of 2020 until June 2021 could exceed UK£200 million (AUD$350 million) due to the lack of matchday revenue, conferencing and merchandising to third party live events, and broadcast rebates.

Tottenham Hotspur chairman, Daniel Levy, said at the time of taking out the loan: “We have always run this club on a self-sustaining commercial basis.”

“I said as early as 18 March that, in all my 20 years at the club, there have been many hurdles along the way but none of this magnitude, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown itself to be the most serious of them all.

“It is imperative that we now all work together, scientists, technologists, the government and the live events sector, to find a safe way to bring spectators back to sport and entertainment venues.

“Collectively we have the ability to support the development of new technologies to make this possible and to once again experience the passion of fans at live events,” Levy said.