How do WSL clubs make money?
Chelsea are chasing their sixth consecutive WSL title
- Published
Chelsea made big moves during the January 2025 women's transfer window - signing two players for six-figure fees, one of which was a world record.
Here BBC Sport breaks down the different ways clubs in England's top women's league make money, and what factors influence transfer spending.
How do WSL clubs make money?
There are three main sources of revenue: matchdays, broadcast deals, and commercial deals or partnerships.
Most WSL clubs will also receive some support from their affiliate men's teams, in the form of inter-company loans.
Matchday revenue - through ticket sales, food and merchandise - relies on strong attendances. Last season, the cumulative attendance for both the WSL and Women's Championship passed one million. This was linked to an increasing number of games being played at stadiums used by clubs' men's sides.
Those increased attendances translate into greater commercial interest.
WSL teams can often benefit from commercial deals struck at club level, alongside the men's team. This can involve things like kit suppliers and shirt sponsors.
But we are also seeing WSL clubs strike commercial partnerships independently from their men's side. For example, Arsenal Women have Mastercard, technology company ABBYY and beauty band Il Makiage as women's team-specific partners.
Clubs also benefit from league sponsors as a whole. In September 2024, a new deal worth £45m was agreed for Barclays to continue as the title sponsor for the WSL. Worth in the region of £15m a year, this stood at double the previous arrangement.
Then there's broadcast deals.
In October 2024, the Women's Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL) - the company of which WSL clubs are shareholders - announce the league had agreed a new broadcast deal with the BBC and Sky Sports, which runs through to 2030.
The money generated from these rights is shared between WSL clubs.
Which WSL clubs are doing better than others, financially?
According to the Deloitte Football Money League 2025,, external which analyses the top women's clubs according to revenue, Arsenal Women came out on top for the 2023-24 season.
Arsenal had a 64% increase in matchday revenue during that season, linked to the club hosting more matches at the men's home ground, - the Emirates.
They were followed by Chelsea, Manchester United, and Manchester City.
The revenue includes contributions from their associate men's clubs.
How reliant are WSL clubs on men's teams' revenue?
Football clubs don't have to disclose how much money is going to their women's teams - in the form of loans - because of accounting rules.
That means it's very difficult to compare how much support the different WSL clubs are receiving from their parent clubs, and financial support will vary.
However, there is an incentive for men's clubs to spend money on the women's sides, because this is not accounted for as a cost under the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
So, if these are 'loans', would the women's side be expected to somehow pay the men's side back?
Dr Christina Philippou - a women's football finance expert - said: "We don't know, but if you look at the men's game, lots of loans from owners get turned into equity or they don't get paid back."
We also don't know where the money from these loans is directed.
"Most clubs don't disclose the information," said Dr Philippou. "Is it a loan to spend on wages? Or for investing in back-office staff? Or for infrastructure?"
Is there a salary cap in the WSL?
Yes, but it is what people often call a 'soft' cap. That's because the cap is a percentage of a club's wages, rather than a fixed figure.
WSL clubs can spend 40% of their revenue on players' wages. This revenue figure includes parent-club income, which means that WSL clubs with larger men's sides can in theory spend more on players. It has been criticised for widening the gap between WSL clubs' spending.
In 2022-23, wage bills from the top four revenue-generating clubs in the WSL - Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United - accounted for over half of the league's total wage costs., external
How do clubs decide what money is spent on women's teams?
"It's partly money, and partly priority", Dr Philippou said.
"We see the 'big six' of men's football sitting at the top of the WSL table. More income on the men's side seems to mean that there's more income on the women's side".
But there also has to be the intent.
"Most men's sides are losing money or are technically insolvent, meaning that their owner has to put money in to ensure they survive the season. This can lessen the priority to diversify in women's football".
How come Chelsea can spend so much on transfers?
The short answer is they can - and they want to.
Chelsea brought in £11.15 (13.4m euros) in revenue in the 2023-24 season.
The club dominates when it comes to the signing of high-value players.
Chelsea signed USA defender Naomi Girma for a women's world record fee in January 2025. It was the first women's transfer to hit £900,000 ($1.1m).
Less than a week later, they brought in England midfielder Keira Walsh from Barcelona, for another six-figure fee.
Chelsea had also previously held the British transfer record after signing Mayra Ramirez for £384,000 in 2024.
It has also been reported the consortium that bought Chelsea Women in 2022 could now be looking to sell a minority stake in the team.
"In order to sell a stake, you have to appeal to growth in revenues - and buying high-value players is a great way to signal intent," Dr Philippou told us.
"[Expensive players] push up the value of the squad, which pushes up the overall value".
Is this big spending a good thing?
In many ways, yes.
Massive signings like Girma are a clear signal of a club's ambition, said former England and Chelsea centre-back Anita Asante.
It's also a marker of how far the women's game has come, in an industry that is still in its early stages of growth.
But while the revenue of WSL clubs has been going up,, external their profits have been going down as clubs spend more on player wages, and through costs that come with professionalising the league such as new infrastructure.
Dr Philippou says the wage increases in the WSL can present a financial risk to the league if it means certain teams at the top start to consistently pull away from those at the bottom.
"If you know which team is going to win the league, it's going to be less enticing," Dr Philippou said. "Long term , interest could go down. Sponsors go where the eyeballs go, where there is jeopardy".
That's where a long-term lack of competition could present a risk.