European football clubs have spent tens of billions of euros on signing new players since transfer spending took off twenty years ago. The mega-money deals continued this season, with clubs from the Big Five leagues setting a new transfer spending record. And while clubs pay eye-popping figures to freshen up their playing squad, selling players isn’t the most lucrative revenue stream.
According to data presented by CasinosEnLigne.com, clubs from Europe’s Big Five leagues spent €46.7bn on transfers in the past decade, or €12.3bn more than they earned through player sales.
Clubs Spend Billions of Euros on Signing New Players While in Debt
It has become common for Europe’s top-flight clubs to splash the cash when signing new players. But the transfer market for the 2022/23 season has been crazy, bringing more than a few mega deals with hefty price tags. According to TransferMarkt data, Europe’s Big Five leagues collectively spent over €5.7bn on transfers this season, or 47% more than in football season 2021/22.
This fact is even more shocking when knowing that most football clubs, except a few with state-funded owners from the Middle East, are actually in debt. Still, they spend hundreds of millions of euros on transfer deals because their debt is guaranteed against future sponsorships and broadcast revenue. But when it comes to transfer balance, the truth is clubs spend far more money on signing new players than they earn from selling them.
The TransferMarkt data show Premier League has the worst transfer balance among the Big Five leagues of -€9.8bn. England’s top-flight clubs have spent more than €18bn on signing new players between 2012/13 and 2022/23 and earned less than half that value through player sales.
Far below, the Italian Serie A ranked second, with a transfer balance of -€1.36bn, or seven times less than the Premier League clubs. Bundesliga and LaLiga follow, with negative transfer balances of -€715.4 million and -€688.3 million, respectively.
Ligue 1 is the Only European League with a Positive Transfer Balance of €280.9 million
Although far below in total transfer spending, Ligue 1 clubs were the only ones with a positive transfer balance in the past decade. Between 2012/13 and 2022/23, top French football clubs spent €5.57bn to freshen up their playing squad and earned €280.9 million more from selling their players to other clubs.
The positive transfer balance comes despite their transfer spending significantly increasing in 2022/2023. Statistics show that Ligue 1 saw a massive 45% increase in transfer spending compared to last season, the same as La Liga. Bundesliga clubs spent 13% more on transfers this season, while Premier League’s total transfer spending soared 83% season-over-season to €3.1bn. Serie A was the only league among the Big Five with a transfer spending drop of €6.3 million this season.
