Chelsea suffer biggest financial loss in Premier League history

Chelsea have confirmed by far the biggest annual financial loss in Premier League history after they recorded a deficit of £262m last season.

The figures surpass the previous record, the £197m loss made by Manchester City in 2010-11 during a period of rapid investment by their Abu Dhabi-based ownership.

It also takes the amount lost by Chelsea under the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium to more than £420m in three years when the one-off sale of its own women’s team for almost £200m to parent company BlueCo is stripped out.

The Blues now have the dubious honour of recording four of the six biggest financial losses in Premier League history, having posted deficits of £156m, £155m and £140m in 2021, 2023 and 2005 respectively.

The record loss came despite revenue increasing to £491m, Chelsea’s second best ever income result, following multiple trophy wins last year. 

They claimed the Conference League title in May by beating Spain’s Real Betis and then triumphed at Fifa’s inaugural 32-team Club World Cup in the US last summer, although the financial benefits of the latter are only partially realised in the 2024-25 accounts.

Chelsea Women post £17m loss

Broadcast income was up thanks to a fourth-placed finish in the Premier League, matchday revenue increased slightly and Chelsea banked £58m in profits from player sales.

But the west London club said operating expenses had “risen markedly, driven predominantly by increased matchday costs, due to a return to European football”.

It comes after Tottenham Hotspur this week announced pre-tax losses of £121m, the second worst in the Premier League last season.

Chelsea Women, meanwhile, made a loss of £17m in 2024-25, their first campaign operating separately from the men’s team.

Revenue almost doubled to £21m, an increase attributed to more numerous and improved commercial deals as well as a domestic trophy treble driving record matchday income of £3m.