Record Revenues, Fine Margins
A Clear Eyed Look at Liverpool's 2024/25 Financial Results
Liverpool have posted record revenues of £703m and a profit after tax of £8m. On paper, it reads like the ideal pairing of silverware and sustainability. A 20th league title, expanded Anfield at full capacity, commercial growth across continents, and a place among Europe’s five highest earning clubs.
Yet the numbers tell a stricter story.
The decisive factor in this set of accounts is the return to the Champions League. Media revenue rose by £60m to £264m, largely driven by participation in Europe’s elite competition. Strip that uplift away and the club would have been staring at another heavy loss, not far removed from the £57m deficit recorded the previous year.
That is the reality beneath the headline figure.
Costs have surged alongside income. The wage bill climbed by £42m to £428m, reflecting title bonuses and new contracts for key players like Salah and Van Dijk. Administrative costs rose sharply, with business rates up 286% and utility costs more than doubling over 4 years. Success at the top of the game does not come cheaply, and the baseline keeps rising.
There are positives. Bank debt has fallen significantly. The Main Stand loan owed to FSG is down to around £71m. Matchday income has increased thanks to Anfield’s 61,000-capacity. Commercial revenue remains robust at £323m. The club are well run, disciplined, and commercially astute.
But the margin is thin.
Liverpool walk a line where Champions League qualification is not a bonus, it’s a requirement. The difference between Europe’s top competition and the Europa League is tens of millions. In a wage structure now approaching half a billion pounds and with fresh transfer spending to be absorbed in the next accounts, that gap matters enormously.
This isn’t a club on the brink. It’s a club operating at full stretch. The model works, provided performance on the pitch keeps pace with the cost of competing at the summit.
For all the talk of record revenues, the underlying message is straightforward. To sustain ambition, to finance squad evolution, to remain among Europe’s elite, Liverpool must stay in the Champions League. The accounts make that clear.