The financial figures for 2024-25, the most recent season available, for the eight Women’s Super League clubs who published detailed accounts illustrate a growing gulf between the rich and the poor. The Guardian breaks down the key numbers. Note, any figures exceeding £1m have been rounded to the nearest £10,000.
Arsenal
Accounts for the year ending 31 May 2025
Turnover: £21.54m (up from £15.26m in 2023-24)
Total wage bill: £11.32m (up from £9m)
Profit/loss after tax: profit of £22,000 (previously lost £15,000)
Broadcasting revenue: £2.02m (up from £956,000)
Matchday revenue: £5.9m (up from £4.35m)
Commercial revenue: £1.78m (up from £649,000)
Wages as a % of revenue: 53%
Financial health With their impressive attendances at the Emirates Stadium a significant outlier in the WSL, Arsenal lead the charts for matchday revenue comfortably. However, their vast revenues were predominantly made up of £11.9m of “group income”, listed separately to commercial revenue, while their broadcast revenue was boosted by £1.4m distributed by Uefa in relation to their successful run to the 2024-25 Champions League title. The accounts state Arsenal remain reliant on their parent undertaking, KSE UK Inc, for continued financial support.
Brighton
Accounts for the year ending 30 June 2025
Turnover: £1.34m (up from £1.29m in 2023-24)
Total wage bill: £5.00m (up from £3.53m)
Profit/loss after tax: loss of £7.29m (previously lost £5.28m)
Broadcasting revenue: £452,000 (up from £330,000)
Matchday revenue: £344,000 (up from £221,000)
Commercial revenue: £360,000 (down from £522,000)
Wages as a % of revenue: 72%
Financial health Brighton have sustained substantial losses year after year, but their accounts confirm chair, Tony Bloom, has fully committed, by letter, to continue to provide support in the form of non-recall of existing loans and the “provision of additional funding if required”. Brighton, who are determined to invest in the growth of women’s football for the long-term, are pushing ahead with plans for an £80m purpose-built women’s stadium.
Chelsea
Accounts for the year ending 30 June 2025
Turnover: £21.31m (up from £11.50m in 2023-24)
Total wage bill: £14.52m (Up from £10.29m)
Profit/loss after tax: loss of £17.10m (previously lost £8.42m)
Broadcasting revenue: £2.27m (up from £1.70m)
Matchday revenue: £3.01m (up from £2.69m)
Commercial revenue: £16.03m (up from £11.50m)
Wages as a % of revenue: 68%
Financial health Chelsea’s loss of more than £17m seems alarming, but in reality a huge chunk of that relates to the purchasing of Kingsmeadow, the women’s team’s then-home stadium, from Chelsea Football Club Limited for a total consideration of £12.08m. It has been widely reported that the move helped Chelsea’s men’s team’s efforts to avoid a Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) breach. Since then, Chelsea have announced they will play all of their home league fixtures at Stamford Bridge, which they hope will boost their matchday revenues closer towards Arsenal’s levels.
Everton
Accounts for the year ending 30 June 2025
Turnover: £2.93m (down from £3.16m in 2023-24)
Total wage bill: £2.87m (up from £2.38m)
Profit/loss after tax: loss of £1.28m (previously lost £558,000)
Broadcasting revenue: Unspecified
Matchday revenue: Unspecified
Commercial revenue: Unspecified
Wages as a % of revenue: 98%
Financial health Everton have struggled to bring in revenues akin to that seen at most of their WSL rivals and, as a result, their wages-to-revenue ratio is worryingly close to 100%. However, it should be remembered that this set of financial data relates to Everton’s final season playing home matches at Walton Hall Park, their meagre former home. In 2025-26 they moved home fixtures to Goodison Park, which is understood to have made a big difference to matchday revenue.
Liverpool
Accounts for the year ending 31 May 2025
Turnover: £6.13m (up from £4.91m in 2023-24)
Total wage bill: £3.12m (up from £2.58m)
Profit/loss after tax: profit of £168k (previously made £594,000)
Broadcasting revenue: £962,000 (up from £907,000)
Matchday revenue: £341,000 (up from £168,000)
Commercial revenue: £4.83m (up from £3.83m)
Wages as a % of revenue: 51%
Financial heath Alongside Manchester United, Liverpool are one of only two WSL clubs to record a profit over the past eight years combined, and while their supporters may sometimes wish for more investment from the board and a more competitive team on the pitch, they are run as a relatively stable business, with wages consistently sitting between 50 and 60% of revenue.
Manchester City
Accounts for the year ending 30 June 2025
Turnover: £10.62m (up from £6.60m in 2023-24)
Total wage bill: £8.49m (up from £7.04m)
Profit/loss after tax: loss of £2.83m (previously lost £3.16m)
Broadcasting revenue: £1.71m (Up from £889,000)
Matchday revenue: £1.97m (up from £1.04m)
Commercial revenue: £6.93m (up from £4.68m)
Wages as a % of revenue: 80%
Financial health City will hope a first WSL title triumph in a decade can lead to them ending Arsenal and Chelsea’s dominance of the division. It helps that their Abu Dhabi ownership opened their wallets to ensure top scorer Khadija Shaw performed a U-turn in May and signed a lucrative new contract. This year’s return to the Champions League should help City’s finances.
Manchester United
Accounts for the year ending 30 June 2025
Turnover: £10.74m (up from £9.17m in 2023-24)
Total wage bill: £5.88m (up from £5.03m)
Profit/loss after tax: profit of £397,000 (previously lost £119,000)
Broadcasting revenue: £1.15m (down from £1.73m)
Matchday revenue: £1.22m (down from £1.87m)
Commercial revenue: £3.44m (down from £4.98m)
Wages as a % of revenue: 55%
Financial health Operating on just over a third of Chelsea’s wage bill, it is not surprising United have yet to win a WSL title and they are expected to slip further behind rivals in terms of playing budget due to a focus before the new season on youth development. It will anger some United fans to see their club have made a profit of £1.34m since reforming as a senior women’s side in 2018, during a time when their rivals are investing. Their bank balance will also have been aided further this summer by the £850,000 sale of Melvine Malard to Chelsea, a new club-record sale.
Tottenham
Accounts for the year ending 30 June 2025
Turnover: £4.41m (up from £3.39m in 2023-24)
Total wage bill: £4.30m (up from £3.45m)
Profit/loss after tax: loss of £2.83m (previously lost £2.73m)
Broadcasting revenue: £267,000 (no change)
Matchday revenue: £433,000 (down from £513,000)
Commercial revenue: £3.39m (Up from £1.48m)
Wages as a % of revenue: 98%
Financial health Tottenham have upped their game on and off the pitch, increasing investment in the women’s team and being rewarded with a fifth-placed finish in the WSL last season. One of their biggest hindrances has been matchday revenue, which is 10 times smaller than Arsenal’s. Growing attendances has to be a priority.
There were four clubs competing in the 2024-25 WSL season who did not publish detailed financial figures. Relegated Crystal Palace recorded a turnover of £1.32m (up from £914,000 in the 2023-24 campaign, when they were promoted) and made a post-tax loss of £1.99m. Leicester City, who survived the drop, recorded a loss after tax of £4.80m, having similarly lost £4.13m. Neither Aston Villa nor West Ham United have published detailed financial figures, throughout their time in the top tier, with West Ham explaining in their most recent submission to Companies House that they was entitled to exemption from audit under section 479A of the Companies Act 2006. Villa’s men’s team’s accounts did reveal that there was a total expenditure of £7.65m (up from £5.94m) on the women’s team in 2024-25. That would put the club roughly in mid-table in terms of overall expenditure.
Grabbing the headlines this summer with a remarkable recruitment drive, London City Lionesses are heading into their second season as a top-flight club and are set to be one of WSL’s biggest spenders. Their accounts showed an operating loss of £10.6m for 2024-25, when they won the second-tier title, and their expenditure was widely expected to rise last season. That loss was more than 10 times their revenue (£902,000) and Michele Kang, the ambitious American businesswoman who is are financing the club, will know revenues need to grow.
Birmingham City and Charlton Athletic have been promoted to the WSL before the new season, alongside the returning Crystal Palace. Birmingham look best-equipped to establish themselves in the top tier. Their 2024-25 turnover of £6.1m would have sat comfortably in mid-table in the WSL and they also made a profit of £141,000 in that period. Their wage bill of £2.47m – in a season when they finished second in the second tier and narrowly missed out on promotion on the final day – was only £400,000 smaller than the wage bill of Everton, who finished eighth in the WSL. Charlton’s accounts on Companies House are overdue.
