The annual Deloitte report evaluates the revenue and spending of the biggest clubs in football, and for 2025, the report is available for women’s football as well. What does the report show about the financial situation of women’s football?

Since its inception, clubs in Northern Europe have taken hold. Appearances in the top 30 from South American and Scandinavian teams, as well as those in Scotland, Türkiye and Russia, have become fewer and further between.

So too have teams from outside the Premier League. Nine of the game’s 20 richest clubs now ply their trade in England, compared to five back in the mid-90s.

We are, of course, talking predominantly about the men’s game here.

a change for women

In 2023, Deloitte made a change. Powered by significant commercial growth and global interest in the women’s game, the financial services provider produced a separate league for men’s and women’s clubs.

The good news is that the Deloitte Football Money League makes for staggering reading in terms of women’s football. The bad news, is the gap to the men’s game remains equally staggering.

For the first time, the women’s top 15 boasted a total revenue of €116.6m. This is the first time it has surpassed €100m and marks an eye-watering 35% increase on last year.

Barca top but english teams dominate in Deloitte Money League for women’s Football

The list is topped, perhaps unsurprisingly, by FC Barcelona Femení. The Catalans’ men’s side has struggled to grow revenues since it topped the league in 2021. The women’s team, however, saw revenues increase by 26% last year alone.

Their performance on this list is boosted by successful back-to-back Champions Leagues titles in 2023 and 2024. Barça Femení also won the competition in 2021 and reached the final in 2019 and 2022, cementing the club’s status as the continent’s most consistent performer. Further boosting their commercial outlook, in 2024, Barça won their fifth Liga Feminina title in a row.

The popularity of the likes of Leah Williamson and the advantage they hold by being ahead of the curve in the women’s game sees Arsenal come second in 2025. Their revenues only narrowly fell shy of Barcelona’s €17.9m.

Arsenal boast a 64% increase in matchday revenue and a 48% rise in commercial revenue in the 2023/24 season. That matchday figure looks set to increase further next year. 11 fixtures will take place at the Emirates Stadium in 2024/2025, compared to six last season.

Chelsea’s €13.4m saw them third while Manchester United and Real Madrid’s rounded off the top 5 with around €10.5m apiece. Three more English teams featured in the top 10 by way of Manchester City, Aston Villa and Liverpool. Eintracht Frankfurt and PSG follow behind.

The remaining five on the Deloitte list for women’s football were Tottenham, Everton, Bayern Munich, Benfica and Norway’s SK Brann.

what do the findings of deloitte mean for women’s football?

Largely, it is a group short of surprises. However, SK Brann’s presence in the top 15 is a positive one.

The counter-argument will be that their inclusion demonstrates an apathy towards the women’s game from those in the upper echelons of the men’s league.

Although Benfica and Eintracht Frankfurt do feature in the top 30 of the men’s game, the Norwegians certainly do not. In fact, no men’s Norwegian team has ever featured. Furthermore, a club from Scandinavia hasn’t featured since 2008.

That, leaves plenty of clubs who perform well in the men’s report with egg on their face.

Eyebrows will be raised in the direction of Borussia Dortmund, Atletico de Madrid, the two Milan clubs, Newcastle United, West Ham, Juventus, Marseille, Lyon, Brighton, Napoli, Roma, Fulham and Wolves.

How a club whose men’s team are second of Norway’s domestic league has built a women’s side whose revenue outpaces organisations with far greater resources at their disposal may beggar belief.

What next?

The key positives for advocates of women’s football will be the continued growth, as the Deloitte report shows. There is a 50-fold difference in revenue at the top of the men’s list compared to the women’s. Yet, the women’s game is growing six times faster than its male counterpart.

Some will view continued Premier League dominance as a negative, others will view it as an inevitability.

Ultimately the rise of women’s football appears to be steady and the future of the game looks to be in rude financial health.