English Football's Financial Woes Beneath Premier League Success

As Martin Odegaard, Arsenal's captain, lifted the Premier League trophy at Crystal Palace's Selhurst Park ground in south London on May 24, one could be forgiven for thinking all is well with English football (or soccer...).

In winning their first league title in 22 years — and their 14th overall — Arsenal became the third different club to lift the trophy in as many seasons, following Liverpool in 2024-25 and Manchester City in 2023-24.

That highlights a competition that's tougher than Europe's. Spain, the second-richest league after England, remains a duopoly between Barcelona and Real Madrid, who have been champions in 20 of the last 22 seasons.

In Germany, Bayern Munich have won 13 of the last 14 seasons, while in France, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) have been title-winners in eight of the last nine.

Of Europe's top leagues, only Italy's Serie A is as competitive as the Premier League, with four clubs — Juventus, Inter Milan, AC Milan and Napoli — winning the title during the last seven years. English clubs are also thriving in international competitions.

Only victory on penalties for PSG against Arsenal in last Saturday's Champions League final prevented an English clean sweep after wins for Aston Villa and Palace in the Europa League and Europa Conference League.

Chelsea, meanwhile, are current holders of FIFA's Club World Cup. That may reflect the wealth of English clubs.

The Premier League sells its TV rights (both home and overseas) for more than any other football competition, while English clubs took half the places in Deloitte's latest ranking of the world's 30 richest clubs by revenue, with the relatively unheralded AFC Bournemouth, Brentford and Brighton & Hove Albion all making the list.

Yet scratch beneath the surface and all is not as good as it looks for England's football industry, with a growing number of top players now plying their trade abroad, among them England captain Harry Kane. Following last week's sale of winger Anthony Gordon from Newcastle United to Barcelona, six of England's squad for the forthcoming World Cup now play for foreign clubs.

As The Times journalist Martin Samuel, one of the country's finest sportswriters, commented: "We used to think that was great. We felt proud when Real Madrid or AC Milan came for one of our own. Yet almost a quarter of the group? That's a talent drain … It wouldn't be so troubling if the same level of quality was travelling in the other direction."

Meanwhile, although Premier League clubs enjoy higher revenues than most European peers, only four — Newcastle, Villa, Bournemouth and Liverpool — were actually profitable during the latest season for which figures are available. Outside the top flight, a host of clubs have gone into administration in recent years, among them storied names like Derby County and Sheffield Wednesday.

Plenty of clubs rely on accounting wheezes, such as sale and leasebacks of stadia or training facilities, to comply with financial fair play rules aimed at maintaining competition and stopping a handful of wealthy owners, like sovereign wealth funds, from bidding up player prices and salaries while pushing other clubs, in attempting to keep up, into financial unsustainability.

Yet those owners may become more scarce in the future.

Tottenham Hotspur, one of the six Premier League clubs which in 2021 nearly joined a breakaway European Super League until supporter backlash killed the project, only narrowly escaped relegation. West Ham United, the Premier League's eighth-longest serving club and 20th in Deloitte's Money League, did go down.

That may deter some investors, particularly American owners, whose professional sports leagues do not feature the jeopardy of relegation.

Noting that Liverpool, Manchester United, Palace, Chelsea and Newcastle are "in one way or another, all for sale," Samuel wrote that prospective owners will "observe the fate of West Ham, and the near-miss at Tottenham, and shiver."

One suspects the high-ups at the Premier League did, too.

— Ian King