Every club in Europe ranked by their 2024-25 wage bill: Real Madrid 2nd, Liverpool 9th…

Nestor Watach • 13 Sep 2024

When it comes to money spent on player wages, European football is dominated by a select group of clubs, with the Premier League particularly well-represented at the top table.

English clubs account for five of the top nine spending clubs in Europe’s top five leagues – with the likes of Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea all towards the top end.

But it’s Bayern Munich that top the charts for outlay on wages, spending a colossal €267million a year according to industry estimates.

The Bavarian giants are undoubtedly one of European football’s true powerhouse clubs, but besides €100million man Harry Kane, they haven’t made quite as many glamorous, big-name signings as some of their rivals.

Still, they have long-serving stalwarts like Thomas Muller and Manuel Neuer on lucrative deals and the club hierarchy will surely believe they’ve assembled a squad capable of getting back to the summit of the German top flight.

Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen are only 27th on the list, lower than the likes of Everton, Crystal Palace and newly-promoted Leicester City, with an estimated wage bill that’s less than a quarter of Bayern’s.

Borussia Dortmund, meanwhile, are 16th, nestled in between Aston Villa and AC Milan with an estimated annual wage bill of €94million.

Real Madrid find themselves second in the list, fractionally behind Bayern. It’s no surprise to see the reigning European champions up near the top, given the addition of Kylian Mbappe to their array of Galactico superstars.

Barcelona are three places and about €60million behind Los Blancos in terms of wage outlay, ahead of the now Mbappe-less PSG, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool but behind the two Manchester clubs.

Perennial Premier League champions Manchester City are believed to spend about €220million per year on Pep Guardiola’s star-studded squad, while it can’t be denied that their city rivals – who are the fourth club to break the €200million barrier – are getting considerably less bang for their buck.

Tottenham, Newcastle United, Aston Villa and West Ham also make the overall top 20 wage bills across Europe’s top five leagues, with the likes of Serie A champions Inter and other Italian giants like Juventus and Roma are also among them.

Newly-promoted Ipswich Town have the lowest wage bill in the Premier League at an estimated €18million a year, but that’s still more than 25 other clubs from across Serie A, Ligue 1, Bundesliga and La Liga.

At the bottom end of the list, relative minnows such as Holstein Kiel, Toulouse and Leganes are believed to be spending in the region of €7million on their entire squads’ annual wage bills – which is considerably less than top earners such as Frenkie de Jong, Kane, Mbappe, Robert Lewandowski and Erling Haaland are believed to take home singlehandedly.

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Here’s every club from Europe’s five major leagues ranked in order of their wage bill. The figures come from FBref, via Capology:

Bayern Munich – €267,610,000 (£227,926,000, $298,359,940)
Real Madrid – €267,110,000 (£227,500,150, $297,802,484)
Manchester City – €220,108,596 (£187,460,000, $245,399,667)
Manchester Utd – €201,721,202 (£171,800,000, $224,899,514)
Barcelona – €197,700,000 (£168,382,983, $220,416,877)
Paris Saint-Germain – €197,050,000 (£167,829,372, $219,692,188)
Arsenal – €188,084,473 (£160,186,000, $209,695,887)
Chelsea – €172,179,264 (£146,640,000, $191,963,123)
Liverpool – €149,893,648 (£127,660,000, $167,116,830)
Inter – €139,940,000 (£119,188,242, $156,019,918)
Atletico Madrid – €116,430,000 (£99,164,548, $129,808,482)
Juventus – €115,762,000 (£98,595,605, $129,063,725)
Tottenham – €113,595,574 (£96,746,000, $126,648,011)
Newcastle Utd – €113,259,762 (£96,460,000, $126,273,614)
Aston Villa – €101,353,751 (£86,320,000, $112,999,568)
Borussia Dortmund – €94,810,000 (£80,750,584, $105,704,218)
AC Milan – €94,650,000 (£80,614,309, $105,525,834)
RB Leipzig – €91,610,000 (£78,025,112, $102,136,518)
West Ham – €90,668,868 (£77,220,000, $101,086,965)
Roma – €87,540,000 (£74,558,654, $97,598,853)
Napoli – €85,720,000 (£73,008,544, $95,569,725)
Lazio – €68,270,000 (£58,146,210, $76,114,615)
Everton – €67,986,388 (£57,902,000, $75,798,205)
Crystal Palace – €67,009,484 (£57,070,000, $74,709,049)
Nottingham Forest – €66,246,278 (£56,420,000, $73,858,149)
Leicester City – €65,116,735 (£55,458,000, $72,598,817)
Leverkusen – €65,080,000 (£55,429,258, $72,558,069)
Fulham – €63,529,265 (£54,106,000, $70,828,944)
Fiorentina – €60,160,000 (£51,238,847, $67,072,733)
Atalanta – €56,240,000 (£47,900,148, $62,702,302)
Marseille – €56,160,000 (£47,832,013, $62,613,108)
Athletic Club – €55,160,000 (£46,980,301, $61,498,202)
Bournemouth – €55,072,944 (£46,904,000, $61,400,968)
Brighton – €53,760,230 (£45,786,000, $59,937,419)
Wolves – €53,607,587 (£45,656,000, $59,767,240)
Lyon – €51,120,000 (£43,539,393, $56,993,985)
Wolfsburg – €48,570,000 (£41,367,533, $54,150,976)
Sevilla – €47,750,000 (£40,669,132, $53,236,749)
Monaco – €47,660,000 (£40,592,480, $53,136,409)
Hoffenheim – €42,500,000 (£36,197,655, $47,383,497)
Real Betis – €39,290,000 (£33,463,672, $43,804,648)
Southampton – €38,618,222 (£32,890,000, $43,055,557)
Brentford – €38,618,220 (£32,890,000, $43,055,558)
Borussia Monchengladbach – €37,130,000 (£31,623,977, $41,396,451)
Torino – €35,480,000 (£30,218,656, $39,556,857)
Real Sociedad – €34,160,000 (£29,094,399, $38,085,181)
Eintracht Frankfurt – €33,520,000 (£28,549,306, $37,371,642)
Valencia – €31,760,000 (£27,050,296, $35,409,409)
Girona – €31,650,000 (£26,956,609, $35,286,765)
Bologna – €31,080,000 (£26,471,137, $34,651,272)
Villarreal – €29,250,000 (£24,912,506, $32,610,994)
Monza – €29,140,000 (£24,818,819, $32,488,354)
Genoa – €29,100,000 (£24,784,748, $32,443,758)
Stuttgart – €26,040,000 (£22,178,519, $29,032,146)
Celta Vigo – €26,030,000 (£22,170,000, $29,020,998)
Como – €25,990,000 (£22,135,932, $28,976,404)
Mainz 05 – €23,810,000 (£20,279,203, $26,545,908)
Werder Bremen – €23,710,000 (£20,194,033, $26,434,415)
Lille – €23,470,000 (£19,989,624, $26,166,839)
Lens – €22,810,000 (£19,427,493, $25,431,003)
Freiburg – €21,450,000 (£18,269,171, $23,914,732)
Union Berlin – €21,280,000 (£18,124,379, $23,725,194)
Osasuna – €20,650,000 (£17,587,806, $23,022,804)
Udinese – €20,490,000 (£17,451,530, $22,844,421)
Nice – €20,390,000 (£17,366,360, $22,732,928)
Brest – €19,540,000 (£16,642,406, $21,785,260)
Mallorca – €19,160,000 (£16,318,757, $21,361,597)
Espanyol – €19,100,000 (£16,267,651, $21,294,700)
Getafe – €18,790,000 (£16,003,622, $20,949,081)
Cagliari – €18,610,000 (£15,850,315, $20,748,395)
Ipswich Town – €18,603,437 (£15,844,000, $20,741,021)
Parma – €18,400,000 (£15,671,457, $20,514,264)
Empoli – €17,690,000 (£15,066,742, $19,722,683)
Nantes – €17,570,000 (£14,964,539, $19,588,895)
Hellas Verona – €17,220,000 (£14,666,440, $19,198,680)
Las Palmas – €17,110,000 (£14,572,751, $19,076,041)
Rayo Vallecano – €16,660,000 (£14,189,479, $18,574,332)
Valladolid – €16,250,000 (£13,840,280, $18,117,219)
Rennes – €15,630,000 (£13,312,219, $17,425,979)
Bochum – €15,240,000 (£12,980,055, $16,991,166)
Venezia – €15,000,000 (£12,775,645, $16,723,588)
Montpellier – €14,250,000 (£12,136,861, $15,887,408)
Augsburg – €14,070,000 (£11,983,553, $15,686,724)
Auxerre – €13,520,000 (£11,515,114, $15,073,527)
Reims – €13,260,000 (£11,293,670, $14,783,650)
Alaves – €12,750,000 (£10,859,296, $14,215,050)
St. Pauli – €11,580,000 (£9,862,797, $12,910,612)
Lecce – €11,560,000 (£9,845,762, $12,888,311)
Strasbourg – €10,940,000 (£9,317,704, $12,197,069)
Angers – €10,790,000 (£9,189,947, $12,029,835)
Le Havre – €10,210,000 (£8,695,954, $11,383,188)
Heidenheim – €9,740,000 (£8,295,651, $10,859,184)
Saint-Etienne – €8,840,000 (£7,529,111, $9,855,766)
Holstein Kiel – €8,130,000 (£6,924,399, $9,064,184)
Toulouse – €7,920,000 (£6,745,538, $8,830,052)
Leganes – €7,360,000 (£6,268,582, $8,205,706)

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