The 2023 summer transfer window proved to be every bit as crazy, with top football clubs spending obscene amounts of cash on signing new players. Over the past few months, clubs from Europe’s Big Five leagues spent an eye-popping €5.9bn on transfers, €200 million more than the season before. But besides paying a fortune to recruit new talent, Europe’s top-flight clubs spend hundreds of millions of euros each month on players already in their teams.
According to data presented by CasinosEnLigne.com, Real Madrid tops the list of European football clubs with an average player salary of €11.5 million in the season 2022/23.
Football Players` Salaries Have Skyrocketed this Season
For years, the world’s highest-paid football players have been making hundreds of millions of euros through their heavy contracts and sponsorship deals. However, after the entrance of multinational corporations, oligarchs, and oil states as club owners, the salaries at the top end of the game have skyrocketed. But 2023 might set a record, with the world’s top football clubs paying their players more than ever.
According to Capology data, Real Madrid is paying the highest average salary to players in season 2023/24. Statistics show the first-team players of the Spanish football giant have an average net wage of €11.5 million per year, far more than any other European football club. Moreover, this represents a massive 90% increase from last season, when the average player salary amounted to roughly €6 million.
Bayern Munich ranked second on this list with €10.2 million in average player salary. The German football club has seen its average player salary skyrocket by 103% from last season, when it was around €5 million.
Paris Saint-Germain, which topped the chart in 2022/23, dropped to third place this season, with €9.4 million in average player salary. Still, this is a considerable increase from an average €6.7 million per player the club paid last season. Manchester City and Barcelona round the top five list, with €8.9 million and €7.8 million in average player salary, respectively.
The Capology data also show Arsenal saw the biggest average player salary increase among the top ten football clubs. Last season, the Premier League club paid its first-team players an average of €2.8 million. This figure surged by 164% season-over-season and hit €7.5 million in 2023/24.
Top Ten Clubs Spend Over €40M on Player Salaries per Week, almost 80% more than Last Season
Although Europe’s top football clubs generate hundreds of millions of euros in revenue, their weekly player payrolls are still shocking.
Statistics show Paris Saint Germain has the highest weekly payroll of €5.4 million, up from €4 million last season. Real Madrid follows with €5.1 million in weekly player expenses, considerably more than €2.6 million the club was paying the previous season.
The third-ranked Bayern Munich pays €4.7 million per week to its first-team players, up from €2.7 million in 2022/23. Manchester United and Manchester City follow, with €4.6 million and €4.4 million in weekly payrolls. The Capology data show the world’s teen most valuable football clubs are paying their players over €40 million per week, or almost 80% more than last season.
