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Detailed accounts highlight the growing financial might of the elite, and the challenges the rest of the division faceThe financial figures for 2024-25, the most recent season available, for the eight Women’s Super League clubs who published detailed accounts illustrate a growing gulf between the rich and the poor. The Guardian breaks down the key numbers. Note, any figures exceeding £1m have been rounded to the nearest £10,000.Accounts for the year ending 31 May 2025 Turnover: £21.54m (up from £15.26m in 2023-24) Total wage bill: £11.32m (up from £9m) Profit/loss after tax: profit of £22,000 (previously lost £15,000) Broadcasting revenue: £2.02m (up from £956,000) Matchday revenue: £5.9m (up from £4.35m) Commercial revenue: £1.78m (up from £649,000) Wages as a % of revenue: 53%Financial health With their impressive attendances at the Emirates Stadium a significant outlier in the WSL, Arsenal lead the charts for matchday revenue comfortably. However, their vast revenues were predominantly made up of £11.9m of “group income”, listed separately to commercial revenue, while their broadcast revenue was boosted by £1.4m distributed by Uefa in relation to their successful run to the 2024-25 Champions League title. The accounts state Arsenal remain reliant on their parent undertaking, KSE UK Inc, for continued financial support.Accounts for the year ending 30 June 2025Turnover: £1.34m (up from £1.29m in 2023-24) Total wage bill: £5.00m (up from £3.53m) Profit/loss after tax: loss of £7.29m (previously lost £5.28m) Broadcasting revenue: £452,000 (up from £330,000) Matchday revenue: £344,000 (up from £221,000) Commercial revenue: £360,000 (down from £522,000) Wages as a % of revenue: 72%Financial health Brighton have sustained substantial losses year after year, but their accounts confirm chair, Tony Bloom, has fully committed, by letter, to continue to provide support in the form of non-recall of existing loans and the “provision of additional funding if required”. Brighton, who are determined to invest in the growth of women’s football for the long-term, are pushing ahead with plans for an £80m purpose-built women’s stadium.Accounts for the year ending 30 June 2025Turnover: £21.31m (up from £11.50m in 2023-24) Total wage bill: £14.52m (Up from £10.29m) Profit/loss after tax: loss of £17.10m (previously lost £8.42m) Broadcasting revenue: £2.27m (up from £1.70m) Matchday revenue: £3.01m (up from £2.69m) Commercial revenue: £16.03m (up from £11.50m) Wages as a % of revenue: 68%Financial health Chelsea’s loss of more than £17m seems alarming, but in reality a huge chunk of that relates to the purchasing of Kingsmeadow, the women’s team’s then-home stadium, from Chelsea Football Club Limited for a total consideration of £12.08m. It has been widely reported that the move helped Chelsea’s men’s team’s efforts to avoid a Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) breach. Since then, Chelsea have announced they will play all of their home league fixtures at Stamford Bridge, which they hope will boost their matchday revenues closer towards Arsenal’s levels.Accounts for the year ending 30 June 2025Turnover: £2.93m (down from £3.16m in 2023-24) Total wage bill: £2.87m (up from £2.38m) Profit/loss after tax: loss of £1.28m (previously lost £558,000) Broadcasting revenue: Unspecified Matchday revenue: Unspecified Commercial revenue: Unspecified Wages as a % of revenue: 98%Financial health Everton have struggled to bring in revenues akin to that seen at most of their WSL rivals and, as a result, their wages-to-revenue ratio is worryingly close to 100%. However, it should be remembered that this set of financial data relates to Everton’s final season playing home matches at Walton Hall Park, their meagre former home. In 2025-26 they moved home fixtures to Goodison Park, which is understood to have made a big difference to matchday revenue.Accounts for the year ending 31 May 2025Turnover: £6.13m (up from £4.91m in 2023-24) Total wage bill: £3.12m (up from £2.58m) Profit/loss after tax: profit of £168k (previously made £594,000) Broadcasting revenue: £962,000 (up from £907,000) Matchday revenue: £341,000 (up from £168,000) Commercial revenue: £4.83m (up from £3.83m) Wages as a % of revenue: 51%Financial heath Alongside Manchester United, Liverpool are one of only two WSL clubs to record a profit over the past eight years combined, and while their supporters may sometimes wish for more investment from the board and a more competitive team on the pitch, they are run as a relatively stable business, with wages consistently sitting between 50 and 60% of revenue.Accounts for the year ending 30 June 2025Turnover: £10.62m (up from £6.60m in 2023-24) Total wage bill: £8.49m (up from £7.04m) Profit/loss after tax: loss of £2.83m (previously lost £3.16m) Broadcasting revenue: £1.71m (Up from £889,000) Matchday revenue: £1.97m (up from £1.04m) Commercial revenue: £6.93m (up from £4.68m) Wages as a % of revenue: 80%Financial health City will hope a first WSL title triumph in a decade can lead to them ending Arsenal and Chelsea’s dominance of the division. It helps that their Abu Dhabi ownership opened their wallets to ensure top scorer Khadija Shaw performed a U-turn in May and signed a lucrative new contract. This year’s return to the Champions League should help City’s finances.Accounts for the year ending 30 June 2025Turnover: £10.74m (up from £9.17m in 2023-24) Total wage bill: £5.88m (up from £5.03m) Profit/loss after tax: profit of £397,000 (previously lost £119,000) Broadcasting revenue: £1.15m (down from £1.73m) Matchday revenue: £1.22m (down from £1.87m) Commercial revenue: £3.44m (down from £4.98m) Wages as a % of revenue: 55%Financial health Operating on just over a third of Chelsea’s wage bill, it is not surprising United have yet to win a WSL title and they are expected to slip further behind rivals in terms of playing budget due to a focus before the new season on youth development. It will anger some United fans to see their club have made a profit of £1.34m since reforming as a senior women’s side in 2018, during a time when their rivals are investing. Their bank balance will also have been aided further this summer by the £850,000 sale of Melvine Malard to Chelsea, a new club-record sale.Accounts for the year ending 30 June 2025Turnover: £4.41m (up from £3.39m in 2023-24) Total wage bill: £4.30m (up from £3.45m) Profit/loss after tax: loss of £2.83m (previously lost £2.73m) Broadcasting revenue: £267,000 (no change) Matchday revenue: £433,000 (down from £513,000) Commercial revenue: £3.39m (Up from £1.48m) Wages as a % of revenue: 98%Financial health Tottenham have upped their game on and off the pitch, increasing investment in the women’s team and being rewarded with a fifth-placed finish in the WSL last season. One of their biggest hindrances has been matchday revenue, which is 10 times smaller than Arsenal’s. Growing attendances has to be a priority.There were four clubs competing in the 2024-25 WSL season who did not publish detailed financial figures. Relegated Crystal Palace recorded a turnover of £1.32m (up from £914,000 in the 2023-24 campaign, when they were promoted) and made a post-tax loss of £1.99m. Leicester City, who survived the drop, recorded a loss after tax of £4.80m, having similarly lost £4.13m. Neither Aston Villa nor West Ham United have published detailed financial figures, throughout their time in the top tier, with West Ham explaining in their most recent submission to Companies House that they was entitled to exemption from audit under section 479A of the Companies Act 2006. Villa’s men’s team’s accounts did reveal that there was a total expenditure of £7.65m (up from £5.94m) on the women’s team in 2024-25. That would put the club roughly in mid-table in terms of overall expenditure.Grabbing the headlines this summer with a remarkable recruitment drive, London City Lionesses are heading into their second season as a top-flight club and are set to be one of WSL’s biggest spenders. Their accounts showed an operating loss of £10.6m for 2024-25, when they won the second-tier title, and their expenditure was widely expected to rise last season. That loss was more than 10 times their revenue (£902,000) and Michele Kang, the ambitious American businesswoman who is are financing the club, will know revenues need to grow.Birmingham City and Charlton Athletic have been promoted to the WSL before the new season, alongside the returning Crystal Palace. Birmingham look best-equipped to establish themselves in the top tier. Their 2024-25 turnover of £6.1m would have sat comfortably in mid-table in the WSL and they also made a profit of £141,000 in that period. Their wage bill of £2.47m – in a season when they finished second in the second tier and narrowly missed out on promotion on the final day – was only £400,000 smaller than the wage bill of Everton, who finished eighth in the WSL. Charlton’s accounts on Companies House are overdue.

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She’s always been keen on the WSL, and the club have long had their eye on her – now the Norwegian midfielder feels ready to make an impactEmilie Joramo has long had her sights set on the Women’s Super League, but she held herself back from pushing for a move over from Scandinavia – until now.“I’d been interested in the league for a long time now and it was a goal for me to get here one day,” says Joramo, who Brighton signed on a free transfer at the end of June. “It was about finding the right path for me to get here. I didn’t want to go too early, I wanted to feel ready for it both physically and mentally. Now, everything just felt right.”Brighton had been tracking the Norwegian midfielder for some time and the 24-year-old was aware of their interest. An encouraging conversation with Brighton’s manager, Dario Vidosic, and good meetings with the club as her contract with Hammarby drew closer to its end meant she was at last ready to join the league she had followed from afar.That time in Sweden with Hammarby, with whom she reached the Europa Cup final last season, and before that in her homeland with Rosenborg who she helped win the Norwegian Cup for the first time in 21 years, was crucial in preparing her for her latest challenge.“I had so much fun at Hammarby and I’ve got so many good friends there,” she says. “I grew both as a football player and as a person in those years. I didn’t feel ready when I was 21, when I went to Sweden, to come over here. I felt like I needed to play a bit more, to play every game, that was really important for me.”That Brighton had been aware of her for some time was a boost too. “It’s reassuring for me that they really wanted me,” she says. “They hadn’t just watched a couple games, they’d been following me for years, and that’s really important to me because I’m not going to jump at the first opportunity I get. I like to think things through and it has to feel right for me.”For Brighton fans wondering what they are getting, there should be some excitement too. Joramo is fiercely motivated and feels she fits the possession-based style of football that Vidosic wants his team to play.“I would say that I’m a hardworking player,” she says, when asked to describe herself. “I always give 100% all of the time. I can’t do 50, 60, 70, I’m always 100%. I want to have the ball. I want to play, not just put balls in behind but to keep the ball , play with each other, [build] good relationships with the other players and think several steps ahead. They’ve always been things that I’m good at and I’m always wanting to get better at too.”Brighton and the WSL present a step up. “I think I can get challenged a lot here because things go much faster, the intensity is higher, you have a smaller amount of time when you have the ball,” she says. “So, it’s a perfect place for me to be at now to be challenged further and develop my strengths but also the parts that I’m not as strong at and need to develop more.”Arriving and starting life on the south coast was “a bit overwhelming” in the beginning: “There’s so many people to get to know, the staff is so much bigger than what I’ve been used to. So, instead of one physio you have five and you need to get to know everyone and get to know which person does which role. That’s always the way it is in a new team, of course, but it’s much bigger here.”Everyone has been very welcoming and her first impressions of training sessions under Vidosic have been positive. “I’ve only had two sessions with him so far,” she says, “but he seems very, very good at football tactics, how the game works, how to play good football, and that was important for me because I’m a player that wants to have the ball and always wants to try to get better and try to play good football together as a team, not only as individuals. This is what Dario wants, so it really fits my ambitions, my values and how I want to play.”She is finding her feet on the pitch, and starting to find them off it. Joramo’s girlfriend has moved to England with her, which has helped the transition and helps her escape football when needed. “I have to have other things to do besides football,” she says. “We’ve been to the beach and have been exploring the city. It’s so different for me to live by the beach, I’m from the mountains and the woods. This is like a holiday for me, and with the weather as well, it’s been so warm. It’s really nice.”The goal now is “to contribute as much as I can to this team and play as much as I can”, but Joramo’s patience as she worked towards her WSL goal should continue to serve her well. “I feel like I’m now in the place I want to be and develop in and I need to give it a bit of time in the beginning, because I can be very impatient,” she says. “I have to give it some time to get into it, get into the intensity and everything around the game here, because it’s so much more than what I’m used to in Sweden, this is so much bigger.”At the end of her first season in England is a big carrot, should Norway come through a two-legged playoff against Romania and then another against Albania or Wales and qualify for the 2027 Women’s World Cup.Joramo made her debut for the senior side in 2022 and has been on the fringes of the squad since, making three appearances in total and playing for the under-23s. In April she was on the bench for the senior side’s back-to-back qualification campaign wins over Slovenia and she is hopeful her WSL move helps her show what she can bring.“Hopefully this also will strengthen my opportunities with the national team,” she says. “I know this is the best league in the world, so if I get to play here, then I’ve done something right, I think.”