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Law

Premier League’s Legal Costs Explode to $66 Million

  • England’s top league spent far more than anticipated on “eye-watering” legal fees.
  • Five clubs in particular have caused legal headaches for the top flight.
Norwegian soccer player Erling Haaland
Lucas Boland-Imagn Images

The Premier League increased restrictions on clubs to make them more financially stable. That attempt at belt-tightening ended up costing the league tens of millions of dollars in legal fees as clubs fought back against enforcement.

Last season, the league’s spending on lawyers soared amid investigations and arbitration hearings for Manchester City, Chelsea, Everton, Nottingham Forest, and Leicester City. The Times of London first reported the total amount of $66 million (£50 million), more than six times greater than the budgeted amount.

A quick review of each club’s financial issues:

The league only anticipated spending about $10.7 million in legal fees, according to The Times. Clubs are gathering for a shareholders meeting Thursday.

The Premier League introduced its current PSR guidelines in the 2013 season that allow clubs to lose no more than 105 million pounds—about $140 million—over a three-year period. In April, the majority of clubs voted they’d like to move toward a new model beginning in the 2025-2026 season. This would include anchoring—instituting a hard spending cap worth five times the last-placed team’s TV revenue—and squad cost rules, which limits a team’s spending on players, transfers, and agent fees to a portion of its own revenue.

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