Chelsea’s squad at the close of the 2024 financial year became the most expensive ever assembled in Europe, according to a report by UEFA. The “European Club Finance and Investment Landscape” report revealed that Chelsea spent a staggering 1.656 billion euros ($1.79 billion) on transfer fees, surpassing the previous highest squad costs. Manchester United’s squad in 2023 was valued at 1.42 billion euros, while Real Madrid’s 2020 squad cost 1.33 billion euros.
Since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital took over the club in 2022, Chelsea has signed 41 players. However, despite these big-money signings, the club has yet to see significant success on the pitch, finishing sixth in the Premier League last season and currently sitting in fifth place.
A recent report analyzing the finances of top European football leagues reveals that Real Madrid, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United, and Bayern Munich had the highest revenues in 2023. Real Madrid led with 1.073 billion euros, followed by Manchester City with 854 million euros, and Paris Saint-Germain at 808 million euros.
The Premier League dominated the revenue charts, with nine clubs in the top 20 earners. The average revenue for a Premier League club in 2023 was 357 million euros, contributing to an aggregate revenue of 7.15 billion euros. Spain’s La Liga ranked second with 3.7 billion euros in revenue, followed closely by Germany’s Bundesliga (3.6 billion euros), Italy’s Serie A (2.9 billion euros), and France’s Ligue 1 (2.4 billion euros).
The top 20 clubs in Europe have shown stability over the last decade, with all of them appearing in the top 25 since 2014. While English clubs generated over 7.1 billion euros in total revenue, the higher earnings of top-tier teams skewed the average, as the median revenue of clubs in the Premier League was significantly lower at 245 million euros, compared to the mean of 357 million euros.
The report highlights that the typical English club generates 60% more revenue than the average German club and three times more than clubs in Italy and Spain. This disparity is primarily due to the substantial TV revenue distributions in the Premier League.
Overall, Europe’s top-division clubs recorded a combined revenue of 26.8 billion euros in 2023. English clubs alone made nearly double the revenue of the second and third highest leagues, Spain and Germany. Additionally, England and Germany boast the largest matchday attendances, reflected in their median gate revenues—29.1 million euros for England and 23.7 million euros for Germany.
Among the clubs reporting over 100 million euros in gate revenue were Arsenal (153 million), Manchester United (129 million), Tottenham (123 million), and Liverpool (108 million).