UEFA have released their European Club Finance and Investment Landscape report for 2024/25, with club football’s revenue on the continent expected to surpass the €30 billion mark for the first time.
The report highlights the financial might of the Premier League, with the league enjoying an increase in television revenue almost equal to the rest of European football combined between 2014 and 2024.
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The Cherries’ investment into their squad is shown in the report, too, with the club expected to move into the top 25 clubs in terms of cumulative transfer fees in Europe.
Other clubs in that group include the likes of Chelsea, who are top, Arsenal, both Manchester clubs, Real Madrid, PSG, Spurs, Bayern Munich, AC and Inter Milan and Roma.
The top five clubs on the list have a squad that cost more than €1billion.
The report defines the cumulative transfer fees as: “The full original transfer fees paid by clubs on players registered at the club (including players on outbound loans but not inbound) at the end of the financial year.
“These transfer costs are amortised over the length of the players’ contracts and the ‘net book value’ is the unamortised amount that remains as an asset on the club balance sheet.
“The playing squad values at the end of the 2025 financial year were compiled prior to the main summer 2025 transfer window unless deals were finalised before the end of the May or June financial year end.”
The list currently only includes the clubs that have reported their financial position early, with the Cherries not being one of those clubs.
AFC Bournemouth (Image: Richard Crease)
As such, a reference note states: “A review of transfer activity among clubs that will not report until after the publication of this report suggests that the following clubs will eventually also be included in the top 25: RB Leipzig, West Ham United FC and AFC Bournemouth.”
The report also highlighted the inequality of total revenue growth across Europe. While Premier League clubs’ total revenue increased by €3.5bn (£3bn) and clubs in Europe’s other four major leagues in France, Germany, Italy and Spain grew by €5.9bn (£5.1bn), the continent’s other 649 clubs saw growth of only €3.5bn (£3bn) combined.
The Premier League’s financial might was also demonstrated in transfer net spend figures.
UEFA looked at the audited notes of clubs’ financial statements from 2021 to 2025, covering the impact of all transfer activity across the five years including profits on sale, amortisation from previous transfers, impairments and so on.
Based on that, it found the impact of transfer costs was largest at Manchester United, whose net transfer spend was €794m (£692m), ahead of Chelsea on €754m (£657m) and Arsenal on €675m (£589m).