How Much Does It Cost to Buy a Football Club?
How much does it cost to buy a football club? If you’ve ever wondered how the cost for football clubs is calculated, this article is for you. Club takeovers are hotly debated topics in the world of football, and our aim is to break down this topic to outline how much it costs to buy a football club.
We discuss different examples of football club costs, including topflight Premier League teams, relegation-threatened Premier League teams, average Championship teams and more. We also explore the different factors affecting the cost of a club and any hidden costs involved too.
Table of Contents
How Much Does It Cost to Buy a Football Club?
It’s likely that a topflight Premier League football club (Manchester United, Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal) would cost a minimum of £3.1bn to buy, with Tottenham being the cheapest to buy.
| League | Estimated Cost |
| Top 6 Premier League Team | £3.1 billion or more |
| Mid-table Premier League Team | £200 – £400 million |
| Relegation-Threatened Premier League Team | £100 million or more |
| Average Championship Team | £35 – £50 million |
| Average League 1 Team | Less than £20 million |
| Average League 2 Team | Less than £10 million |
How Much Does It Cost to Buy a Premier League Club?
It can cost anywhere between £100 million and £4.5 billion to buy a Premier League club. In 2022, Chelsea were bought for £4.5 billion and Southampton were bought for £100 million, with both teams playing in the Premier League at the time.
Cheapest Football Club to Buy in England
According to TransferMarkt, the cheapest professional football club to buy in England would be Notts County, who recently earned promotion to League Two. They currently have an estimated value of £1.3 million.
Factors Affecting the Cost of Buying a Football Club
There are various factors that affect how high or low the cost of buying a football club is. These include the league that the team is playing in, the club’s history & success, its current financial situation and its location.
The League That It’s Competing In
One of the main factors that determines the price somebody pays for a football club is the league that that team is competing in. For example, a football team playing in the Premier League will receive lots more investment, sponsorship, TV money and is probably going to be able to sell way more tickets and merchandise.
This in comparison to a side in the bottom half of the Championship (just one league below) is a huge difference.
Club History, Success and Fan Base
Another important factor that affects the cost of buying a football club is the club’s history, success and fan base. No matter which division the team is playing in, if they have a richer club history, better success and a bigger fan base, they’ll cost more to buy than most other teams in that division.
For example, Sheffield Wednesday, who play in League 1 would certainly be one of the most expensive teams to buy in that division due to the fact that they fit these criteria.
Current Financial Situation
The current financial situation at a football club needs to be considered when someone is buying a football club, too. The new prospective owner will want to know whether the club owns their ground and other key physical assets.
If a club doesn’t own their ground, they’ll have to rent their ground from its owner every season, which is likely to be a huge cost that the new owner will have to pay for. They’ll need to know this amount before considering whether to put a bid in to buy the club. For example, AC Milan and Inter Milan don’t own the San Siro stadium, so they have to pay to rent it each year.
Location of Club
Another important fact of how much it costs to buy a football club is its location. It’s likely that a club based in London is going to cost more than a club located elsewhere. This is due to a number of factors, including higher land values in London.
Clubs close to other major cities will also carry an inflated price, including Manchester. The reason for this is that a club located in a major city is going to have a significantly higher number of fans supporting the team than a club located in a small town. This means that more tickets and merchandise can be sold.
European Football
If a team qualifies for European football, they receive lots of money to play in the competition, as well as wider exposure when the games are televised. In simple terms, a football team that is playing in Europe will cost a lot more to buy than a team without European football.
Examples of Different Football Club Costs
Topflight Premier League Team Cost
As of 2023, it’s likely that someone would be able to buy one of the “top 6 teams” in England (Manchester United, Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal) for a minimum of £3.1 billion.
The cost of football clubs is forever increasing due to the amount of money being pumped into the sport. One major factor around the cost of England’s top 6 teams is that they qualify for European competitions, which brings in a lot more money than teams who don’t qualify.
These teams also tend to have more expensive squads, which account for most of the clubs “assets”, all of which come into consideration when deciding the cost of a club. It’s also worth noting that a debt figure might need to be factored in. For example, as of March 2023, Manchester United’s net debt stands at a figure of £656 million.
A recent top flight Premier League team that has been bought was Chelsea. American Todd Boehly and his associates paid a staggering £4.25 billion for the club in May 2022. As previously discussed, any club based in London could be more expensive to purchase.
One of the other expensive topflight teams to buy would be Manchester United, due to their fan base and history. Sportico quoted the club’s brand value at £4.8 billion in 2023. Liverpool, who also have a rich history, came second in the brand value rankings with a value of £3.8 billion. Liverpool were valued for purchase between £2.7 billion and more than £4 billion by their owners FSG in February 2023.
| Rank | Club | Brand Value (£) |
| 1 | Manchester United | 4.8bn |
| 2 | Liverpool | 3.8bn |
| 3 | Manchester City | 3.57bn |
| 4 | Arsenal | 2.91bn |
| 5 | Chelsea | 2.8bn |
| 6 | Tottenham | 2.57bn |
Tottenham are bottom of the top 6 rankings for brand value, being valued at £2.57bn in 2023. In February 2023 it was reported that Iranian-American billionaire Jahm Najafi was preparing an offer of £3.1billion to take over the club.
Although it’s hard to put exact figures on how much it would cost to buy a topflight Premier League football club, our estimation is that it would cost a prospective buyer a minimum of £3.1bn.
Mid-Table Premier League Team Cost
Looking at the brand values of teams that are mid-table in the Premier League in 2023, their value falls in the range of £160m and £295m.
| Premier League Position | Club | Brand Value (£) |
| 9 | Brentford | £160 million |
| 10 | Chelsea | £2.8 billion |
| 11 | Aston Villa | £295 million |
| 12 | Crystal Palace | £270 million |
Because Chelsea is technically classed as a “top 6 club”, they are an outlier in this data. Brentford are arguably performing better than expected, however Aston Villa and Crystal Palace are both great examples of mid-table Premier League teams.
Both of these teams have similar brand values, with just £25 million separating them in 2023. The overall cost of purchasing one of these clubs depends on many factors, including debt. Aston Villa were last purchased in 2016 for just £76 million, however this was their first season in the Championship, and playing in a lower division means it costs less to buy the club.
Our estimation of how much it would cost to buy a mid-table Premier League club would be anywhere between £200 million and £400m.
Relegation-Threatened Premier League Team Cost
As of March 2023, the bottom four teams in the Premier League have a brand values that range from £115 million to £485 million. Clearly this is quite a wide range, however some teams with bigger brand values (Everton & Leeds) are having bad seasons so far.
| Premier League Position | Brand Value Ranking | Club | Brand Value (£) |
| 17 | 11 | Leeds | £305 million |
| 18 | 8 | Everton | £485 million |
| 19 | 15 | Southampton | £220 million |
| 20 | 20 | Bournemouth | £115 million |
Bournemouth find themselves bottom of the Premier League are they’re also bottom of Sportico’s brand value table for the Premier League. They have a brand value of £115 million, which is significantly lower than Manchester United’s £4.8 billion value.
In January 2022, Southampton were bought for £100m by Serbian-born businessman Dragan Solak. A month prior to this, Bournemouth were bought for £120 million by Las-Vegas businessman Bill Foley.
Another team who’d likely have a value similar to these two clubs is Nottingham Forest. The East-Midlands based side got promoted to the Premier League in 2022 and was last bought when they were in the Championship for £50m in 2017 by Greek businessman Evangelos Marinakis. They’re currently sitting in a higher position in the league table.
From our analysis, we’d say that it would cost, £100million or more to buy a relegation-threatened Premier League club. However, teams with high brand values are falling into the relegation battle more often in recent times, which can skew the data.
Average Championship Team Cost
Going down the divisions, we’re going to analyse the average cost of a Championship team. Using Nottingham Forest as an example again, they were bought for £50 million, 6 years ago. They have a rich history and a large fan base, though, so they would be classed as one of the more premium Championship clubs to buy.
In 2010, Blackburn, a side who have been pushing for promotion for a number of years, were bought for £23 million by the Venky family. Another Championship club, Birmingham City, have been linked with a takeover for a price of £30-35 million as recent as February 2022.
Looking at the prices discussed, it’s safe to say that an “average” Championship club could be bought for a price in the region of £35 – £50 million, with some examples falling outside that range.
Teams striving for promotion with big fanbases and rich histories can demand prices (£90 million or more) close to those of clubs who are threatening-relegation from the Premier League.
Average League 1 Team Cost
Looking a further division below, we ask, how much does it cost to buy a football club playing in League 1? Here you’ll see a huge disparity in prices. If a club in League 1 is located in a large city, has a large fanbase and owns its stadium, it can demand a price closer to the £20 million mark.
Sheffield Wednesday are a great example of a League 1 team who fit these criteria. Owner Dejphon Chansiri bought the club for £37.5 million during the 2014/15 season, when the club were playing in the Championship. They achieved a 13th place finish that season.
Because they’re now playing in a lower division, if somebody was looking to buy the club, it would likely cost them somewhere in the region of £20 million and this would be one of the higher club fees in the division.
On the other hand, lots of clubs in this division can be bought for small fees. A club like Accrington Stanley were valued at just £2.25 million in 2019, which is a big difference in price compared to Sheffield Wednesday.
From our analysis, we’d say that an average League 1 side would cost £20 million or lower to buy.
Average League 2 Team Cost
With money not making its way down the English football pyramid very well, teams in divisions like League 2 can find it tough financially. This division is full of sides from small areas, with few teams being able to draw regular, big crowds.
This means that an average League 2 team could cost less than £10 million to buy.
Costs of Owning a Football Club
Once a football club has been bought, the new owner will be responsible for paying all the costs that the club incurs during a season. There are lots of costs of owning a football club that should be considered by a new prospective owner, including stadium upgrades & maintenance, player & staff salaries and transfer fees.
Player & Staff Salaries
A regular cost that needs paying at a football club, like any workplace, is the salaries of its staff. For a football club, this will involve paying the players and the staff members, and at big clubs there tends to be a lot of people who are employed.
Player salaries are one of the biggest costs incurred. To provide some context, the highest paid player in the Premier League right now is Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne, who earns a whopping £400,000 a week. This accumulates to £20.8 million a season.
Transfer Fees
Another huge cost to football club owners is transfer fees. Each season, there are two transfer windows where players can be bought or sold. With the ever-increasing amount of money being involved in football, transfer fees are becoming exceptionally high.
In August 2022, Brazilian winger Anthony signed for Manchester United for £80 million and in the following window, Chelsea spent a staggering £323 million in January alone. With Chelsea recently having new owners, it’s clear that investment in large transfer fees should be high on the priority list of people wanting to buy football cubs.
Stadium Upgrades & Maintenance
Another cost to bear as a football club owner are the costs of maintaining and upgrading the club’s football stadium. For example, if a football team is promoted from the Championship to the Premier League, they’ll have to make changes to their stadium to adhere to the demands of the Premier League.
Another example is if a club wants to expand its capacity by rebuilding a stand. This costs a lot of money, and all eyes are on the club owner when decisions like this need to be made.
Conclusion
There are several factors as to why someone would want to buy a football club, including vanity, giving back to the community and more. When discussing how much it costs to buy a football club, the main considerations involve looking at the club’s league status, history, financial status and more.
Teams with rich histories, that are located in major cities and play in the highest leagues will cost more money to buy than clubs that don’t. If a prospective new owner wanted to buy a professional club, irrespective of its league status, they could spend anywhere between £4.5 billion and £1.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why Do Millionaires Buy Football Clubs?
There are a number of reasons why millionaires buy football clubs, including as a hobby, to diversify their portfolio or to give back to the community of a club that they support. Their motivation can also come from a place of vanity, with the ownership of a football club being their “trophy asset”.
How Do Club Owners Make Money?
Football owners can make money through various streams including player sales, merchandise, ticket sales, winning trophies or leagues and inevitably selling the club at some point.
Why Are Football Clubs Bought for £1?
Football clubs are sometimes bought for £1 because they are in debt. This means that when the new owner buys the club, they are taking on the liability of whatever the figure of debt is. The reason they have to be sold for £1 and can’t be bought for free is because £1 is the legal minimum a business can be bought for in the UK.
