94% of English football clubs operating at a loss in 2025/26
Question asked:
“94% of professional football clubs in England were operating at a loss in the 2025/2026 season.”
Summary
In the 2025/26 season, 94 % of England’s professional clubs across the top five divisions recorded operating losses. This figure is confirmed by the Independent Football Regulator’s State of the Game report and reported by major UK and German news outlets.
Sources 74 searched
- Independent regulator report says English football finances are 'dangerously exposed' - BBC Sport
Research by the watchdog found 94% of clubs are loss-making, and more than 60% of EFL and National League clubs are technically insolvent.
- The troubling state of Premier League club finances as record losses hit £1.6bn - The Athletic
Premier League clubs generated record operating losses last season as underlying deficits hit a combined £1.65bn, The Athletic has found
- England: Vor dem Ruin – Diese Zahlen belegen das Desaster im englischen Fußball - WELT
Demnach machten in der vergangenen Saison 94 Prozent der 116 Vereine in den fünf höchsten Spielklassen Verluste. Mehr als ein Viertel aller Klubs (32) könnten nicht länger als 30 Tage überleben, wenn ihre Eigentümer die finanzielle ...
- Fußball in England: Behörde schlägt Alarm - rund sechs Milliarden Euro Schulden - DER SPIEGEL
Demnach hätten in der vergangenen Saison 94 Prozent der 116 Vereine in den fünf höchsten Spielklassen Verluste gemacht. Mehr als ein Viertel aller Clubs könnten nicht länger als 30 Tage überleben, wenn ihre Eigentümer die finanzielle ...
- Rekordumsatz, Milliarden-Schulden: Englands Fußball droht der Kollaps | wallstreetONLINE - 15.10.2026
Nach einem Berichtsentwurf der unabhängigen Fußballaufsichtsbehörde IFR erzielten die 116 Vereine der fünf höchsten Spielklassen in der Saison 2025/26 zusammen rund neun Milliarden Pfund Umsatz. Dennoch verbuchten 94 Prozent der Clubs Verluste.
- Independent Football Regulator's State of the Game Report: why are football clubs loss-making? - UCFB
It says 94% of clubs across the top five divisions of the men’s English football pyramid were loss-making before tax in 2025/26, despite the game generating around £9 billion in revenue.
- English Football hits record £9bn revenue, but 94% of clubs make losses - Report - Citi Sports Online
English football generated a record £9 billion in revenue in the 2025/26 season, yet 94% of clubs across the top five divisions operated at a loss, according to the Independent Football Regulator (IFR).
- English football is on the brink of financial disaster with 94 PER CENT of clubs running at a loss and nearly two-thirds of EFL clubs 'insolvent' - as shocking scale of the crisis is revealed | Daily Mail Online
The Independent Football Regulator's State of the Game report demands 'urgent reform' while delivering the troubling revelation that an incredible 94 per cent of clubs are loss-making
- How English football clubs’ overspending puts 94 per cent on verge of ‘financial disaster’ | The Independent
A landmark 'State of the Game' report by the new independent football regulator has warned that English football is operating on the brink of financial disaster, with 94% of clubs across the top five tiers making a loss in the 2025/26 season.
- English clubs living on a financial knife edge, finds IFR State of the Game report - Inside World Football
October 14 – English football is generating more money than ever, but much of the game is still being kept afloat by owners writing cheques. That is the blunt conclusion from the Independent Football Regulator’s (IFR) first State of the Game report, which found that 94% of clubs across England’s top five divisions made a loss in 2025/26 despite combined industry revenues of around £9 billion...
- 94% of English Football Clubs Lose Money. The economics of football don't work.
Between 2021/22 and 2025/26, Premier League wages went up 33%. Championship 32%.
- English Football Is Richer Than Ever. So Why Are Its Clubs Broke?
English football earns £9bn a year, yet 94% of clubs lose money. We examine owner funding, the cost of promotion and whether regulation can fix it.
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