Chelsea
Squad cost ratio (SCR) for the 2026/27 season: the Orange Ledger's independent estimate for the Premier League's 1 March 2027 test, updated as new data arrives.
Where the revenue goes
Costs exceed revenue by £70.8m
- Player and head-coach wages £232.7m
- Transfer amortisation £262.8m
- Agents' fees £43.9m
- Relief on players lent out, net −£9.3m
- Remaining revenue
The squad costs the same £530.1m in both rings; only what it is measured against changes. Adding the three-year average profit on player sales (£121.6m a year) to revenue takes the ratio from 115.4% to 91.3%: that gap is what selling players is worth to Chelsea under the rule.
Squad costs and revenue: the Orange Ledger's estimate for the 1 March 2027 test, rolled forward from the 2024/25 accounts; three-year average of player-sale profit. The 85% tick marks the rule's limit on each ring.
Filed accounts, 2024/25
- Revenue, £m
- 490.9
- Profit before tax, £m, as filed
- (262.4)
- Net assets, £m
- 872.3
Premier League, nearest group accounts as filed at Companies House, read twice. Losses and net liabilities in brackets.
20 seasons of finances →How the SCR is built
Estimate for the 1 March 2027 test, £m
| Player and head-coach wages | 232.7 |
| Transfer fees, spread over contracts | 262.8 |
| Agents' fees | 43.9 |
| Loans, net: players borrowed, less relief on players lent | (9.3) |
| Squad costs | 530.1 |
| Revenue counted by the rule | 459.3 |
| Three-year average profit on player sales | 121.6 |
| Revenue plus averaged sale profit | 580.9 |
| SCR under the rule | 91.3% |
| Before player-sale profit | 115.4% |
SCR = squad costs ÷ (revenue counted by the rule + three-year average profit on player sales).
Latest filed accounts
2024/25, year to 30 June 2025, £m
| Turnover | 490.9 |
| Broadcasting | 203.2 |
| Commercial | 200.9 |
| Matchday | 86.8 |
| Staff costs, all employees | 359.3 |
| Transfer fees written off (amortisation) | 212.2 |
| Profit on player sales | 57.9 |
| Squad book value (player registrations) | 1043.9 |
Chelsea FC Holdings Limited (group); squad employed by Chelsea Football Club Limited (company 02536231 / 01965149), as filed at Companies House. The SCR uses the club's accounts, rolled forward to 2026/27.
SCR 2026/27 articles
- Summer window Chelsea's squad cost ratio: heavy amortisation, and a grandfathered set that keeps shrinking 16 September 2026
Figures are from the latest completed checkpoint. They are the Orange Ledger's estimates, not official figures. Chelsea's finances, season by season · All 20 clubs.
Financial sanctions on record
- 2026UEFA: €3m, of which €2m suspended. UEFA took account of an improving trend in line with the 2025 settlement.
- 2026Premier League: £10.75m fine, a one-year first-team transfer ban suspended for two years, and an immediate nine-month academy transfer ban. Sanction agreement, approved by three members of the independent Judicial Panel.
- 2025UEFA: €31m: €20m for football earnings under a four-year settlement, €11m for the squad cost rule, with further sums payable if the settlement's targets are missed. Settlement in force.
- 2023UEFA: €10m, by settlement. Settled.
Every decision, with its source, is in the sanctions register.
More on Chelsea
- A 40-point deduction would turn Manchester City into Chelsea. Fifty-five would follow them back up 28 September 2026
- Chelsea have to keep selling players. Manchester City barely need to 27 September 2026
- Chelsea at £5bn: what the price tells you, and what it doesn't 17 September 2026
- Morgan Rogers and the hidden credit chain behind a £117m transfer 10 September 2026
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