Having received a great boost from the 2019 World Cup, women’s football now faces new challenges following the COVID-19 pandemic with the FA Women’s Super League ending prematurely and places decided by Points Per Game. This thread looks at underlying financials in the #FAWSL.
Reviewing WSL financials is made more difficult by the fact that not all clubs publish detailed accounts, so some lack information on revenue, expenses, wages and headcount. Nevertheless, there is enough to identify some common themes, including total £8.7m loss for the division. 
This analysis will focus on the 12 clubs competing in the 2019/20 WSL, but will use the latest available accounts, namely for the 2018/19 season. This means that the figures for the two promoted clubs, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, are from the Women’s Championship.
WSL clubs invariably operate at a loss with their parent companies covering the shortfall. Only 3 clubs made (small) profits, but 9 of the 12 lost money – 4 above a million: Arsenal £2.8m (including £2.3m in their parent), Brighton £1.8m, Chelsea £1.6m and Reading £1.2m.
WSL revenue partly depends on how much money is shared from the parent company in the commercial area. Chelsea £3.3m is by far the highest reported revenue, ahead of Manchester City £2.0m and West Ham £1.3m. Arsenal have only £340k revenue, but do have that large cost subsidy.
In addition to revenue, the two WSL clubs from Manchester also benefit from “other operating income”, though no details are divulged in the accounts: City £329k and United £306k.
WSL broadcast rights are owned by BT Sport and the BBC, who cover their costs rather than pay for rights – in stark contrast to the men’s game.
A £500k prize fund was added in 2019/20, thanks to Barclay’s sponsorship deal, with the champions receiving £100k and last place £6k.
A £500k prize fund was added in 2019/20, thanks to Barclay’s sponsorship deal, with the champions receiving £100k and last place £6k.
Barclays became the WSL first ever title sponsor in 2019 in a three-year deal that the Football Association called "the biggest ever investment in UK women's sport by a brand", understood to be worth in excess of £10m.
Similar to revenue, Chelsea have the highest expenses in the WSL with £4.9m, well ahead of Manchester City £3.4m, Arsenal £3.2m (including £2.3m borne by parent company) and Brighton £2.0m. Relegated Liverpool lag with a budget of only £1.4m.
Not all WSL clubs show wages, but Manchester City is highest of those that do publish details with a £2.1m wage bill, twice as much as Brighton £1.1m and Liverpool £807k. Given that Chelsea’s total expenses are much higher than City, their wages are almost certainly the highest.
A salary cap is in place in the WSL at 40% of turnover, but this is fairly “soft”, given that turnover can include funding from the parent company. In other words, a greater share of commercial income would mean that a club could afford a higher wage bill.
WSL headcount numbers should also not necessarily be taken at face value, as clubs apply different criteria for what is included. However, the 59 staff at Chelsea is significantly more than the next highest, Everton 34. It is striking that Liverpool have only 10 FT employees.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the budget at WSL clubs is considerably lower than their male counterparts, especially at Liverpool and Manchester United, both just 0.3%, e.g. United £1.5m vs. £583m. The highest ratio at Reading 2.3% more reflects their relatively low men’s budget.
Again very few WSL clubs report profit on player sales with Manchester City leading the way with just £93k. According to FIFA, only $652k was spent on transfer fees in the women’s game in 2019. It is only the really high-profile players that might command a six-figure fee.
Let’s now look at how the finances have developed at the 12 clubs in the 2019/20 WSL, staring with the champions Chelsea and finishing with the relegated club, Liverpool. Where possible, we will review the last 5 years’ financial results.
Chelsea, winners of the WSL twice in the last 3 years, saw their revenue fall £159k (5%) in 2019 to £3.3m, though it has quadrupled from £804k in 2015. Expenses rose £658m (15%) in 2019 to £4.9m. leading to a £1.6m loss, more than double prior year’s £745m deficit.
Manchester City loss narrowed from £1.1m to £910k in 2019, as £307k revenue growth to £2.0m outpaced £151m expenses increase to £3.4m. Around 80% of City’s revenue comes from commercial, which has shot up from £192k in 2015 to £1.6m in 2019.
Arsenal’s reported loss in 2019 was “only” £519k, but that excluded £2.3m expenses borne by the parent company, including all headcount and wages. On that basis, losses have been steadily increasing from £1.0m four year ago to £2.8m. Revenue only £340m, due to cost subsidy.
Manchester United only reintroduced a women’s team in 2018, but they won the Women’s Championship to secure promotion to the WSL. Posted a £74k profit on £1.3m revenue (with 90% coming from commercial) plus £306k “other operating income”. Modest £785k wage bill.
Reading’s losses have grown each year, from £185k in 2015 to £1.2m in 2019. Last year in particular, revenue only grew by £13k (5%) to £277k, while expenses rose by a third (£381k) to £1.5m.
Everton have essentially looked to break-even each year. As an example, revenue and expenses both increased by around £450k in 2019 to £1.2m. Wage bill up from £470k to £730k. No revenue details published, but it looks very much as if the parent company adjusts to cover costs.
Tottenham Hotspur secured promotion from the Women’s Championship in 2018/19. Very little information published in the accounts, so we can only see that they reported a £5k profit that season, having basically broken-even the previous year. No revenue, expenses or wages details.
Even though West Ham revenue almost quadrupled in 2019 from £341k to £1.3m, expenses grew at the same rate to £1.3m, so the club has broke-even for the last two years. Wages surged from £182k to £705k. Looks like the Hammers’ parent company covers any deficit in revenue.
Brighton & Hove Albion losses have widened from £361k in 2017 to £1.8m in 2019, as the wage bill has more than tripled from £309k to £1.1m, driving growth in expenses from £0.5m to £2.0m. In the same period, revenue has only increased from £126k to £224k.
Bristol City only published abbreviated accounts in 2019, which showed that they made a £93k loss, while employing 15 staff. No revenue, expenses or wages details.
Birmingham City swung from £60k profit to £91k loss in 2019, mainly due to no repeat of £74k profit from player sales in 2018. Revenue grew £164k (19%) to £1.0m, while expenses increased £249k (28%) to £1.1m, including £597k wages. 75% of revenue comes from sponsorship £774k.
Liverpool loss increased from £129k to £313k in 2019, as revenue rose £138k (15%) to £1.1m, while expenses were up £274k (25%) to £1.4m. 77% of revenue comes from commercial £832k. Wage bill only £807k, i.e. a lot lower than the leading WSL clubs, with just 10 full-time staff.
The global players’ union, FIFPro, has warned of an “existential threat” to women's football. Although the FA has protected their funding, there must be a question over whether men’s clubs will continue to support their women’s teams, which continue to lose money.
The pandemic has obviously adversely impacted all of football, but there is clearly a risk that the women’s game will be among the worst hit. The WSL had been building up some real momentum commercially, so it is to be hoped that clubs do continue to invest in this space.
