Besides spectacular games, players, coaches, and tactics, football brings a lot of money into this world, too. Many of us know about transfers worth millions of pounds. The same goes for stadiums, equipment, and other investments.
But just as a club can be rich, it can go into debt or even go bankrupt. I’ve spent quite a while investigating financial matters in football, which resulted in a surprisingly long list of football clubs in debt.
Barcelona (£2.58bn)
Barcelona is currently the number one club when it comes to its debts. I’m not talking about millions but billions of pounds here. Since a long time ago, Barca didn’t have an official sponsor.
For several years, Barcelona players wore a Unicef jersey. But poor financial skills over the decades took their toll. Unfortunately, it all culminated in Messi’s departure and the highest debt measured in billions.
Manchester United (£832m)
United has been on the right track for quite some time after the Glazers took control over it in 2005. However, not much after, the Red Devils started having their first crises. When I say crises, I mean both rough times for their games, as well as for their finances.
Being one of the most popular teams on the planet, Man Utd has a lot of sources from which it generates income. What’s more, those incomes are pretty large. Yet, lavish spending made the Red Devils become one of the football clubs in debt, which tops most lists with such clubs.
Just recently, some of the Arabian businesspersons have shown interest in buying Manchester United. The sad thing about this situation is that the Glazers have no intentions on giving in, at least for now.
Juventus (£757m)
The Old Lady has had a rough period in a couple of previous seasons. Even before that, Juventus has been known for various scandals, such as match-fixing in the 2005/06 season.
Back to the latest events, Zebre even had to undergo a point deduction due to breaching financial regulations. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. It turned out that Juventus owes more than 750 million pounds, which is everything but great.
Tottenham Hotspur (£694m)
Rarely has anyone seen the Spurs spend huge sums of money on transfers or so. Of course, the North Londoners are one of the strongest clubs in the Premier League.
While they did spend some reasonable amount of money on coaches and players, they joined the list of football clubs debts and ranked so high on it because of their new stadium.
In the past, this club played at the White Hart Lane. This stadium was demolished and a new one, called Tottenham Hotspur stadium was built in the exact same place. The construction ended in 2019, and the Spurs have been in debt ever since.
Inter Milan (£590m)
Everyone knows that Inter Milan is a legendary club with a long tradition and some major trophies. In fact, there is no question that this is true. What many fans wonder is why this club’s management is so unwise, to say the least.
The Nerazzurri won the Serie A 2023/24 season. One season before, they played in the Champions League finals. It’s obvious that their game is at the top level. On the other hand, they struggle with bringing the best players and keeping young talents. So, the debt of football clubs such as this one once again comes from bad financial habits.
AC Milan (£560m)
The Rossoneri were one of the very best clubs during the 2000s. They played in the Champions League finals and even won this competition two seasons later. In the same period, Milan won one Scudetto.
Everything went downhill as soon as Rossoneri became one of the football clubs in debt which started to grow more and more. As is the case with most indebted clubs, the people in charge of finances were not up to the task.
A good thing here is that Milan has improved so much over the years. They signed many free players and paid special attention to their spending. All this led to debt reduction and even some titles, such as Scudetto in 2021/22.
Atletico Madrid (£432m)
Another club from Spain which was pretty close to Barcelona when it came to its debt is Atletico Madrid. Los Colchoneros almost made it to one billion in debt in Euros.
Atletico Madrid turned over a new leaf and started taking good care of their finances. One season later, the debt of this club went down as it decreased the salaries by 19%.
This was not in vain, as Los Colchoneros managed to reduce their debt from £500 to £432m. An additional factor here is that Atletico Madrid made a profit by letting go and bringing in certain players.
Everton (£330m)
The Toffees have been struggling for many years now to find a solid ground for the club. This is especially true for their finances. The ongoing crisis has once reached a pinnacle where the Premier League officials deducted two points from this club.
The initial punishment for the Toffees was even as high as ten points. Luckily, it was reduced to five and then to two points. But even after this, Everton showed no signs of financial recovery. The Toffees currently lack £330 million, with almost half of the sum being loaned for the new stadium.
Arsenal (£259m)
Arsenal is proof that football clubs debts plague many famous teams. The Gunners are at -£259m considering their overall financial status at the moment. This club had to go through many financial mini-crises.
More specifically, the Gunners had to build a new stadium. The flow of money also saw lots of cash on transfers. The last time Arsenal’s debt went higher was in the season 2022/23, when the club took a £41m loan from their owners.The only favourable aspect here is that the Gunners owe much money to their parent company.
Valencia (£156m)
I guess that the debt of football clubs is an unavoidable part when big money is at stake. The same situation was in Valencia’s headquarters. This team has a long history which comes with many successful moments, but also the rough ones.
In 2014, Los Ches got a new owner. Actually, things went downhill for this club as Peter Lim bought it. Valencia’s performance was bad. One of the most important elements here is that Los Ches played poorly in La Liga. This cost them the games in European contests, which are one of the biggest income sources for many clubs.
In other words, the sponsorship contracts usually go up as soon as clubs join elite competitions. The same goes for the money they receive there for each game, goal, or so.
Benfica (£143m)
One of the best teams in Portugal, Benfica, made some significant transfers in the past, as well as recently. With the budget that couldn’t stand these signings, the Eagles became one of the football clubs in debt.
Benfica was always in a rat race, competing with clubs such as Sporting and Porto in the Portuguese league. Not long ago, the Eagles got themselves in an even worse state as their debt went up by 20-odd million pounds.
Liverpool (£123m)
In 2020, Liverpool lost much money due to limited broadcasts, ticket sales, and other commercial activities. Regardless of that, the commercial revenue of this club has increased a lot. The Reds have plenty of followers on YouTube, as well as social media like Facebook and Instagram. This is, of course, a good sign showing Liverpool’s way out of debts.
Queens Park Rangers (£89m)
QPR has been part of the EFL Championship for multiple seasons now. While this isn’t the only team among football clubs in debt, the Super Hoops stand out from its rivals because they are slow to pay off their debts.
In contrast to, let’s say, Blackburn Rovers, or Middlesbrough, which owed more than £100, but repaid most of their debts, QPR reported losses of £24.2 in 2022. In 2023, Queens Park Rangers improved just a little. More precisely, this club was still in debt. The only difference is that they owed two million less than in 2022.
