UEFA’s annual European Club Football Finance and Investment Landscape Report lists the 10 clubs with the highest losses for each season.
Last season, Chelsea sat at the top (or bottom) of that 10-club list, but it is the scale of Chelsea’s losses that has made headlines. In the third full season of ownership under the Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly-led consortium, the club recorded a staggering pre-tax loss of €407 million (£342 million).
In European football, only FC Barcelona’s €555 million loss in the 2020/21 season has ever exceeded Chelsea’s latest deficit. Barcelona’s 2020/21 figures were impacted by the dual effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and Joan Laporta’s return as club president, with the Catalan side electing to book huge one-off expenses into that fiscal year.
UEFA’s report does not provide full details of each club’s financial position, so the exact breakdown of the record loss remains unclear.
Chelsea FC has issued a response to the findings.
The club has posted heavy operating losses in recent years, with losses exceeding £200 million in each of the three seasons prior to last year, driven by falling revenue and skyrocketing costs.
Reporter: What is the root cause of Chelsea’s record €407 million loss in the 2024/25 fiscal year?
Source with knowledge of the club’s internal operations (speaking anonymously to protect relationships): Chelsea’s huge loss last season, just like Barcelona’s before it, is driven by a large number of non-cash accounting items.These items include player asset write-downs – where Chelsea deems the book value of a player unlikely to be recovered and writes that value down on its balance sheet – as well as other asset write-downs. The exact makeup of those assets is not yet known.In addition, the source noted a number of one-off cash items that negatively impacted Chelsea’s 2024/25 financial figures. These include the €31 million (£27 million) fine handed down to Chelsea by UEFA last year for breaching two of the governing body’s financial regulations.
Reporter: Does this record deficit reflect Chelsea’s actual operational performance, or its current and future financial position?
Source with knowledge of the club’s internal operations: This huge deficit is in no way a reflection of the club’s actual operational performance, nor an indicator of its financial position for the current and future seasons. This deficit reflects the club’s clean-up of historic legacy issues, with a number of high-cost one-off items booked into the same financial reporting period.
In recent years, it has been difficult to accurately map Chelsea’s financial position due to a number of transactions that have pushed the boundaries of UEFA and Premier League financial rules.
Most notably, these include the intra-group sale of the club’s women’s team, as well as similar group-internal transactions involving two hotels and a car park.
But UEFA has also introduced stricter rules around player transactions. The governing body has mandated that clubs exclude deals it deems analogous to "gross player swap transactions", such as Chelsea’s 2024 June deal to sign Omari Kellyman from Aston Villa while sending Ian Maatsen the other way.
Reporter: Will Chelsea face sanctions over this record loss?
The huge 2024/25 loss means Chelsea have accumulated total losses of €622 million (£528 million over three years under UEFA’s rules – a staggering sum that far exceeds the €60 million loss limit set out in UEFA’s Football Revenue Rules, even after deductions for youth academy and related expenses. However, this is not expected to result in harsher sanctions for the club.
As part of a settlement agreement reached with UEFA last summer, it was agreed that Chelsea’s 2024/25 football revenue losses would be permitted up to the "projected losses submitted in its business plan".
In other words, as long as losses remained within the level Chelsea submitted to and agreed with UEFA, the terms of the settlement agreement have been met. Sources have confirmed this is the case.
Regardless, sources state that Chelsea did not breach the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) in 2024/25, and therefore, regardless of the size of the loss it submits to the Premier League, it remains within the three-year rolling loss limit.
Source with knowledge of Chelsea’s internal operations: The club is confident it is operating in compliance with the terms of the settlement agreement and all other financial rules, pointing to improved club fundamentals and player sales as key factors. Chelsea raised approximately £300 million through player transfers last summer.
The same source argues that the record 2024/25 loss is not representative of Chelsea’s future financial position, and is merely the final result of a series of business rationalisation adjustments undertaken by the club. Chelsea is expected to comply with financial rules domestically and in Europe, boosted by increased revenue this season, particularly from its return to the UEFA Champions League.
Camel Live estimates that Chelsea have already earned £80 million in prize money from their Champions League campaign.
