Premier League clubs' combined pre-tax losses rise over 600% to £948m

[p]Their annual review of football finance found losses among English top-flight sides rose from £135 million in the 2023/24 season to £948 million in 2024/25.[/p][p]Deloitte attributed the rise to transfer spending and the absence of significant profits from one-off sales. Net debt of Premier League clubs was up to £3.6 billion in 2024/25, compared to £3.5 billion the season before, Deloitte found.[/p][p]Meanwhile, the combined pre-tax losses of clubs in English football's second-tier Championship rose 12% to £355 million, with only three teams reporting a pre-tax profit in 2024/25, Deloitte found.[/p][p]Tim Bridge, the lead partner in the Deloitte Sports Business Group, said: [b]"The cumulative financial position and worsening club losses across all three English Football League divisions (the three tiers below the Premier League) underline a continuing trend; one where external funding is now critical to liquidity in the vast majority of cases."[/b][/p][p]Talks over a new agreement to create a more equitable split of television revenue between the Premier League and the EFL have foundered since 2024, although the recently-established Independent Football Regulator has the power to impose a settlement if a deal cannot be agreed.[/p][p]Meanwhile, Deloitte found the European football market grew 6% overall to 40.2 billion euros (£34.3bn) in 2024/25 - the first season featuring UEFA's newly-expanded men's club competitions.[/p][p]But Bridge insisted adding yet more fixtures to an already congested calendar was unlikely to yield greater financial rewards.[/p][p][b]"The expansion of UEFA and FIFA competitions has delivered financial benefits across Europe's 'big five' leagues, but football cannot rely on simply adding more content to deliver sustainable growth,"[/b] he said.[/p]