A UEFA analysis claims that Chelsea’s 2024 squad is the most costly in Europe’s history

According to a report published by UEFA, the regulatory body, Chelsea’s team at the end of the 2024 fiscal year was the most costly ever put together in Europe in terms of transfer costs.

According to the “European Club Finance and Investment Landscape” report, Chelsea’s total transfer expenses came to 1.656 billion euros, or $1.79 billion.

That easily outstripped the 2023 Manchester United squad, which cost 1.42 billion euros to build, and Real Madrid’s 2020 squad, which cost 1.33 billion euros, the most.

Since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital acquired the team in 2022, Chelsea has added 41 players. However, the west London team’s expensive acquisitions have not resulted in notable on-field achievements, as they now sit fifth in the Premier League after finishing sixth the previous season.

Real Madrid (1,073 million euros), Manchester City (854 million euros), Paris St. Germain (808 million euros), Manchester United (771 million euros), and Bayern Munich (765 million euros) had the most revenues in 2023, according to the analysis that examines all of Europe’s top divisions.

With an average income of 357 million euros and an approximate total revenue of 7.15 billion euros, nine Premier League teams were among the top 20 earning clubs.

With 3.7 billion euros in revenue, Spain’s La Liga came in second, followed by Germany’s Bundesliga (3.6 billion), Italy’s Serie A (2.9 billion), and France’s Ligue 1 (2.4 billion).

Over the past ten years, the top 20 clubs have been largely consistent, with all of the current top 20 appearing in the top 25 in 2014.

The mean club revenue (357 million euros) is significantly greater than the median (10-11th) club revenue (245 million euros), despite the fact that English clubs reported little over 7.1 billion euros in income in 2023.

“This ‘typical’ median English club revenue has 60% more revenue than the typical German club and three times the revenue of the typical club in Italy and Spain, principally due to the large TV revenue distributions enjoyed by all top division clubs in England,” concluded the report.

The combined 2023 income of Europe’s 700+ top division clubs was 26.8 billion euros, with England’s 20 top flight clubs generating nearly twice as much revenue (97%) as either Spain or Germany, the second and third-highest leagues in 2023.

With median gate receipts of 29.1 million euros and 23.7 million euros, respectively, England and Germany have by far the highest attendance figures.

In 2023, eight European clubs reported gate receipts of over 100 million euros: Arsenal (153 million), Manchester United (129), Tottenham (123), and Liverpool (108).