Southampton Financial Results 2024/25
The earliest relegation in Premier League history, financial results kept in line by cyclical player trading.
Southampton's return to the Premier League lasted just one season. A 3-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on 6 April 2025 confirmed relegation with seven games still to play — the earliest any club has ever been relegated in Premier League history. The Saints finished bottom with 12 points, only narrowly avoiding the division's all-time lowest points tally.
The season unravelled from the opening weeks. Russell Martin, who had led Southampton to promotion via the play-offs the year before, was sacked on 15 December 2024 hours after a 5-0 defeat to Tottenham left the club bottom of the table. Ivan Jurić — himself dismissed by Roma only weeks earlier — was appointed on an 18-month contract but won just once in 14 matches before leaving by mutual consent the day relegation was confirmed. Academy coach Simon Rusk saw out the remaining fixtures as caretaker.
This was Southampton's second relegation in three seasons, having also gone down from the Premier League in 2022/23. 2024/25's solitary bright spot was a run to the EFL Cup quarter-finals.
Ownership has remained with Sport Republic, the investment vehicle led by Dragan Šolak and founded by Rasmus Ankersen and Henrik Kraft, since their £100 million takeover of an 80% stake from Gao Jisheng on 4 January 2022 (the remaining 20% is held by Katharina Liebherr). The group backed the promotion-winning squad heavily over the 2024 summer window, investing close to £97 million in transfers.
Financial highlights:
Record-breaking relegation. Southampton finished bottom of the Premier League with 12 points, relegated with seven games to spare — the earliest relegation in the competition's history.
A significant swing from profit to loss. Pre-tax loss reached £53.9 million, reversing a rare £17.3 million profit in the promotion-winning 2023/24 Championship season.
Turnover jumped back to Premier League levels. Turnover rose to £156.9 million, from £84.8 million, on the strength of top-flight broadcast revenue — but the club's cost base rose to match it.
Staff costs climbed sharply. Total staff costs reached £168.6 million, up from £132.0 million, as promotion-related wage structures kicked back in.
Player sales income fell well short of the year before's exceptional level. Profit on player sales was £28.6 million, down from £123.3 million in 2023/24, when the club sold heavily following relegation to the Championship.
Net assets swung deeply negative. Net liabilities reached -£52.6 million, from a marginal £1.4 million surplus the year before, as the year's loss and continued heavy squad investment outpaced the club's equity base.
Total debt passed £106 million and player trading debt jumped to £93 million with interest payments reaching £21.6 million.
Southampton's 2024/25 accounts capture a club managing the financial complexities of two relegations in three seasons, each time forced to rebuild and re-cut its cost base to match whichever division it finds itself in. The immediate promotion-to-relegation cycle means turnover swung from £145.5 million (2022/23) to £84.8 million (2023/24) to £156.9 million (2024/25) and will fall back toward a Championship-level base again for 2025/26.
Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules cap cumulative losses at £105 million over a rolling three-year period, and Southampton's raw three-year total to 2024/25 — a £87.0 million loss in 2022/23, a £17.3 million profit in 2023/24, and this year's £53.9 million loss — comes to roughly £123.7 million, above that headline threshold. In practice this isn't a concern: permitted deductions for costs such as women's football, academy investment, community programmes and infrastructure should comfortably bring Southampton's adjusted position back within the limit.
Since taking over, Sport Republic has put close to £100 million into Southampton. The club has continued to carry substantial bank borrowing alongside that investment, with third-party loans standing at £95 million by the end of 2025/26 and generating annual interest costs in the region of £9 million.
Financial Outlook
The biggest story for the 2025/26 season was off the pitch, when Southampton were expelled from the Championship play-offs and hit with a four-point deduction for the following season after admitting to spying on the training sessions of three rivals — Middlesbrough, Oxford United and Ipswich Town — in a scandal that became known as "Spygate." Head coach Tonda Eckert took responsibility and kept his job, with owner Dragan Šolak publicly backing him, but the episode has done significant damage to the club's reputation.
Financially, 2025/26 looks set to land close to breakeven, or a small loss. The club followed its usual post-relegation pattern of trimming the wage bill and cashing in on saleable assets, with Mateus Fernandes's £45 million move to West Ham the largest of several sales, alongside academy graduate Tyler Dibling's £35 million departure to Everton. These two alone should generate profits of around £70 million. Together with the usual drop in broadcast income that comes with relegation, these sales should leave the club roughly break-even for the year.
That picture will get harder the longer Southampton stay in the Championship. 2026/27 will be the club's final season of parachute payments, since they were only one season back in the Premier League. Further help will come from player sales: Shea Charles and Taylor Harwood-Bellis were both sold on for large fees, and Southampton stand to receive around £7 million from a sell-on clause on Mateus Fernandes's £85 million move to Tottenham. But with parachute income ending after 2026/27 and saleable, high-margin talent not something a club can rely on indefinitely, the cost base will need to adjust should they remain in Championship from 2027/28.
Fan sentiment toward Sport Republic has dopped substantially since their 2022 takeover was welcomed by supporters. Having now overseen two relegations, a chaotic run of managerial appointments, and the Spygate scandal, the ownership faces open hostility from large parts of the fanbase, with some pundits and supporters openly calling for a sale. Šolak has said the club is not for sale in the near term, and has taken a more hands-on role by becoming chairman himself, but patience among supporters appears to be wearing thin.
Turnover
Revenue is generated from three primary streams: matchday income (ticket sales), broadcast distributions from the Premier League or EFL, and commercial activities including sponsorship, merchandising and other business operations.
Southampton's turnover rose to £156.9 million in 2024/25, up from £84.8 million the year before, as an immediate return to the Premier League restored the club's central broadcast income.
Southampton's total revenue ranked 19th in the Premier League, ahead of only Ipswich.
Matchday Revenue
Southampton play at St Mary's Stadium, a 32,384-capacity ground the club has occupied since 2001. Average attendance rose to 30,865, from 28,642 the year before, lifting stadium occupancy to 95.3% of St Mary's capacity. Matchday income rose to £19.8 million from £16.2 million (+22%), with revenue per fan climbing to £31.04 from £20.73, reflecting both Premier League ticket pricing and a smaller number of home fixtures played to a larger, more valuable crowd (44 matches, against 54 in the promotion-chasing Championship season).
Spending on facilities was modest in 2024/25, at £6.7 million (per the cash flow statement), broadly consistent with recent seasons and reflecting ongoing stadium and training-ground maintenance rather than a major capital project.
Broadcast Revenue
Broadcast income more than doubled to £114.7 million, from £55.9 million, as Premier League central distributions — including £97 million in equal share and £12.3 million in facility fees and merit payments — replaced the much smaller EFL broadcast pool. This single swing accounts for the large majority of the season's total turnover increase.
Commercial Revenue
Commercial income rose to £19.8 million from £10.1 million (+96%), roughly doubling on the club's return to the top flight. Southampton's kit supplier for 2024/25 was Puma, in the first season of a new four-year partnership replacing Hummel, while online gaming platform Rollbit became front-of-shirt sponsor, replacing fellow crypto gambling brand Sportsbet.io — one of several Premier League clubs to carry a gambling sponsor that season ahead of the competition's move away from front-of-shirt betting sponsorship for the 2026/27 season.
Staff Costs
Staff costs comprise salaries and wages, the amortisation of transfer fees (spreading a player's acquisition cost over the length of their contract), and any impairment charges.
Salaries and wages rose to £115.8 million in 2024/25, from £80.9 million the year before (+43%), as promotion-related pay structures and a fuller Premier League squad reinstated a much larger wage bill. Player amortisation rose slightly to £52.8 million from £51.2 million.
Total staff costs reached £168.6 million, or 107% of turnover — actually an improvement from 156% in the Championship season, since turnover grew even faster than wages did on the way back up.
Southampton's total staff costs ranked 19th in the Premier League.
Profit on Player Sales
Profit on player sales fell sharply to £28.6 million in 2024/25, from an exceptional £123.3 million the year before. The 2024/25 profit was generated mainly from Alcaraz, Sékou Mara, Lyanco and Duje Ćaleta-Car.
The 2023/24 figure was driven by post-relegation sales and included some big-name departures such as Lavia, Livramento, Ward-Prowse and Tella.
Profit and Loss
Southampton reported a pre-tax loss of £53.9 million in 2024/25, a big turnaround from the £17.3 million profit recorded the year before — though that was earned from exceptional player-sales income rather than underlying trading strength.
EBITDA improved to -£5.3 million from -£32.0 million, reflecting the turnover recovery on return to the Premier League. Operating loss narrowed to £62.2 million from £86.9 million. The swing to an overall pre-tax loss came primarily from the smaller player-sales contribution (£28.6 million against £123.3 million) and continued high interest costs (£21.6 million), which together outweighed the improvement in the club's core operating performance.
Net Assets
Net assets represent the difference between total assets and total liabilities, and correspond to a club's net equity position.
Southampton's net position swung to -£52.6 million in 2024/25, from a marginal £1.4 million surplus the year before — mainly due to higher player trading debt, and and increase in both third-party (+ £25 million) and related party loans (+ £11 million) used to fund the seasons losses. Owner equity has remained at £116 million since a substantial equity injection in 2022/23 (up from £31 million previously), with no equity raised in 2024/25,
The year's loss reduced retained earnings, which fell to -£196.5 million from -£142.6 million.
Player Trading
Southampton spent £91 million on player acquisitions in 2024/25, against £45 million recovered in sales — a net spend of £46 million, funding a significant rebuild of the Premier League squad following promotion.
Major incomings included Taylor Harwood-Bellis (£20 million, Manchester City), Aaron Ramsdale (£18 million, Arsenal), Flynn Downes (£18 million, West Ham United), Cameron Archer (£15 million, Aston Villa), Mateus Fernandes (£13 million, Sporting CP) and Ben Brereton Díaz (£7 million, Villarreal).
On the outgoing side, the club's most significant sale was Carlos Alcaraz to CR Flamengo (£15 million), followed by Sékou Mara to RC Strasbourg (£10 million), Lyanco (£4 million, Atlético Mineiro) and Duje Ćaleta-Car (£3 million, Olympique Lyonnais).
Squad Cost and Net Book Value
A squad's net book value (NBV) represents the acquisition cost of its players, less accumulated amortisation.
Southampton's squad NBV rose to £117.4 million from £96.0 million, while independent market-value estimates for the squad stood at £260.1 million — comfortably clear of the NBV, suggesting the squad retains significant trading value even after two relegations in three seasons.
Football Net Debt
Southampton's total loans rose to £106.5 million at the end of 2024/25, up from £69.6 million the year before — driven by a rise in third-party borrowing to £94.7 million and £11.8 million in new related-party debt.
Net debt (loans less cash) reached £96.7 million, up from £56.2 million. Relative to turnover, that equates to 121% of revenue, roughly flat with 127% the year before given the much larger turnover base in 2024/25. Interest payments rose to £21.6 million, from £22.2 million — a marginal improvement, but still a substantial recurring cost..
Player trading debt also increased following the summer 2024 recruitment drive, with transfer fees payable rising to £99.4 million from £68.3 million. Transfer fees receivable, by contrast, stood at just £6.2 million — a small balance given close to £190 million in player sales over the previous two seasons, suggesting Southampton generally collect their outgoing fees upfront rather than on extended credit.
Around £12 million of the year's interest charge relates specifically to transfer fees payable, underlining how much of the club's financing cost stems from the transfer market.
Cash Flow
Cash flows are reported in three categories: cash from operations (revenue less day-to-day running costs), cash from investing activity (player and infrastructure spending, net of player and asset sales), and cash from financing (new loans or equity raised, less repayments).
Southampton recorded a £4.3 million operating cash outflow in 2024/25, a significant improvement on the £24.8 million outflow the year before. Investing activity was a net outflow of £23.1 million, with £76.1 million spent on player acquisitions and £6.7 million on fixed assets, partly offset by £58.9 million recovered from player sales.
Financing activity provided £23.7 million, entirely through new loans, with no fresh equity raised during the year. Cash reserves fell to £9.8 million, from £13.5 million, as financing fell short of covering the year's combined operating and investing outflows.
The five-year picture illustrates the impact of the promotion-and-relegation cycle on the club's cash position. Over the five seasons to 2024/25, Southampton recorded a combined £77 million operating cash outflow, spent £334 million on player acquisitions and recouped £309 million from player sales — a net trading outflow of roughly £25 million — while investing a further £20 million in fixed assets. Together, this left a funding gap of around £122 million which was covered by £85 million equity injection from ownership in 2022/23, and cash reserves.
Reporting Entity
This analysis is based on the entity St Mary's Football Group Limited, for the period 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025. The company is controlled by Sport Republic, the investment vehicle led by Dragan Šolak.
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