The club saw a big rise in its wage bill but a profit on player sales helped it narrow off-field losses
Dan Neil of Sunderland lifts The Sky Bet Championship Play-Off trophy after his team's victory and subsequent promotion to the Premier League
Dan Neil of Sunderland lifts The Sky Bet Championship Play-Off trophy after his team's victory and subsequent promotion to the Premier League(Image: Getty Images)
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Sunderland AFC made a loss in the year it was promoted to the Premiership but saw big improvements to its financial performance, new accounts have revealed. The club has released accounts for the year to end of July 2025 - essentially last season - which show that its revenues rose from £37.5m a year earlier to £39.4m.
Over the same period, the club’s wage bill rose significantly to £52.9m, meaning salaries alone accounted for 134% of its entire turnover. But a profit of £45.8m on transfers meant that the club actually narrowed its losses on the previous season, reporting an operating loss of £331,000.
Having a wage bill greater than a company’s turnover is almost unheard of in most businesses, but is not uncommon in modern-day football, especially among clubs chasing promotion to the lucrative Premier League. Middlesbrough FC last month also reported a wage higher than its turnover, though not to such a great extent.
The narrowing of losses came as Sunderland reported a £45.9m profit on players, selling Jack Clarke, Tommy Watson and Jobe Bellingham early in the transfer window. A note in the accounts highlights spending of £47.3m on bringing in new players for the current Premier League season, which will be recognised in next year’s accounts.
In the accounts, club owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus described it as a “successful season” that culminated in promotion back to the top flight. He said the club continued to show “strong revenue growth” off the pitch which would help it continue to invest in new players.
Sunderland remain firmly in the mix for promotion
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He said: “The 2024/25 season continued to build on our strategy of developing winning teams and talented individuals. The summer of 2024 commenced with the introduction of a new head coach for the men’s senior team and an evolution of our support services to ensure improvement could be made on our 16th place finish in 23/24.
"Trading in this transfer window was focused on developing our squad, identifying players who could align with our identity whist retaining our core principles.
“This period saw seven players join the senior squad with three departing. In the subsequent winter window, with the team performing well, the club sought to enhance several key positions to ensure it was appropriately positioned for a promotion focused schedule. The team performed well over the season and once automatic promotion became less probable the football operations focused early on the requirements to successfully navigate a playoff programme.”
In the accounts, Sunderland said that gate receipts were up 13% to £13.0m, while sponsorship increased to £3.9m, up 67%. It said sales of replica kit were strong after its new partnership with clothing supplier Hummel, though the lack of big music events in the season meant it did not get any revenue from a usual source.
The club said that while it was looking to “capitalise financially on the return to the Premier League,” it would also “continue to plan for several outcomes at the end of the forthcoming season to ensure that the club is on a solid financial footing whatever may come in the summer of 2026.”
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