Chelsea have announced a pre-tax loss of £262.4 million for the 2024–25 season. This is the biggest annual loss in the history of English football. The shocking number, which was made public in Chelsea FC Holdings Limited’s accounts for the year ending June 30, 2025, has sent shockwaves through the football world and raised new questions about the club’s financial future under the Todd Boehly-led ownership group.
The deficit is bigger than the previous Premier League record of £197.5 million set by Manchester City in the 2010–11 season. This is surprising because it comes just a year after the Blues made a profit of £128.4 million. However, that profit was mostly due to the sale of Chelsea Women to Blueco Midco, a subsidiary of the club’s parent company, for almost £200 million.
Chelsea said that the sharp drop was caused by rising operating costs, especially those related to matchdays and their return to European football. Even though the headline number was scary, the club did make £490.9 million in revenue, which is their second-highest ever. This was partly because they took part in the FIFA Club World Cup. The west London team were successful on the pitch, finishing fourth in the Premier League and winning the Europa Conference League.
Chelsea say they are still following the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) for the three-year review period that ends in 2024–25. The PSR framework allows clubs to lose up to £105 million over three years, but they can offset some of their costs, such as infrastructure, youth development, and women’s football. The club also expects to make more than £700 million in the 2025–26 season, which shows they are confident in their long-term financial future.
It’s interesting to note that this news comes just three weeks after Chelsea were punished for breaking financial rules during the Roman Abramovich era. After the Premier League looked into £47.5 million in undisclosed payments from the previous regime, the club were fined £10.75 million and given a one-year transfer ban, which would not take effect immediately.
Chelsea Also Have The Highest Agent Fees In The Premier League, Spending £65.1 Million
The Football Association released its annual agent-fee report on the same day the record losses were confirmed. The numbers were shocking for Chelsea fans once again. Chelsea paid their agents £65.1 million from February 2025 to February 2026, making them the Premier League’s biggest spenders for the third year in a row.
For the same time period, they spent almost twice as much on agent fees as any other Premier League club. Aston Villa spent the second most money, £38.4m. Over the past year, all Premier League clubs spent a total of £460.3m on agent fees, which is a big jump from the previous year’s total of £409m. People close to Chelsea say the high agent fee is due to the club selling a record number of first-team players during the summer 2025 transfer window. Selling clubs still have to pay agents who worked on those deals.