French champions Paris Saint-Germain currently has the highest player wage bill in European football.
According to a survey, the French champions paid $574m in player wages during 2023. PSG topped the wage charts despite reducing their wage bill by 15.5% from the previous year. The Champions League trophy might still be eluding PSG, but the French champions have not shied away from paying the best wages in world football.
According to the latest UEFA financial data, Paris Saint-Germain spent the most money on players’ wages, $574m, in 2023 in European football (and, by default, world football). The situation was even worse for the French club in 2022 when they paid $679m in wages.
However, PSG’s Neyamar’s departure has helped PSG bring down its player wages in 2023, and now that Kylian Mbappe is also leaving the club, one should expect PSG’s wage to drop considerably in 2024. FC Barcelona are second on the list with an annual player wage bill of $548m.
The Catalan club has endured quite a hefty rise in its player wages in 2023, considering it only paid $376m in 2022. European champions Manchester City have also seen a significant rise in their wage bill in 2023. City paid $422m to its players as wages in 2023 compared to $348m the year before.
On the other hand, Real Madrid, next on the list, managed to shrink its wage bill considerably in 2023. The capital club spent $501m on players’ wages in 2022 but only had to pay $347m in 2023.
The next two spots on the list are also occupied by Premier League heavyweights Liverpool and Manchester United. Liverpool’s wage bill has remained almost stagnant at $335m in 2023, while United have managed to significantly reduce their annual bill from $366m to $270. Cristiano Ronalso’s departure from the club has probably helped massively in this reduction.
German champions Bayern Munich are next with an annual wage bill of $334m – a moderate increase from $297m in 2022. Italian Juventus are next, with a significantly reduced wage bill of $244 million in 2023.
The bottom two spots are occupied by Tottenham Hotspur and Atletico Madrid, with annual wage bills of $222m and $206m, respectively. Look at changes in wage bills from 2022 to 2023, both La Liga giants – Barcelona and Real Madrid – stand out but for opposite reasons.
Barcelona has witnessed the highest increase in wages among all top European clubs. Barcelona’s wage staggeringly increased by 45.7% in 2023 – on account of their plethora of new signings during the past year.
On the other hand, Real Madrid managed to reduce their wage bill by a massive 30.7% in 2023. Manchester United and Juventus also deserve mention as they managed to reduce their bills by 26.2% and 24.2%, respectively.
Besides Barcelona, Manchester City also witnessed a significant increase in their wage bill at 21.3%.