Liverpool directors earned more in pay than the combined salaries of all the Women’s Super League side’s 49 players and staff, latest accounts reveal.
Liverpool Women’s total operating budget climbed by 36% for the year ending 31 May 2025, when they finished seventh in the WSL and reached the Women’s FA Cup semi-finals.
Off the pitch, the women’s team had their strongest year yet, boosted by a 26% rise in commercial revenue. That helped overall turnover climb by 25% from £4.9m to £6.1m. Matchday revenue more than doubled to £340,000, after switching their home matches to St Helens rather than ground-sharing with Tranmere.
The players’ and non-playing staff’s total wage bill was £3.1m, less than 0.75% of the wider football club’s payroll, which was revealed in February to be the largest in the Premier League at around £428m after pension contributions.
Before taxes, the 49 employees earned a combined £2.7m, up 20% on the previous year when there were four fewer members of staff. The highest paid director at Anfield, meanwhile, alone received £2.3m, up 7% on 2024, and the total remuneration for all nine of LFC’s company directors rose 9% to £4.2m.
Liverpool’s wage bill was lower than some of their WSL rivals. Arsenal are the only other WSL side to have filed their financial accounts for 2024-25 so far, but the north Londoners spent more than three times as much on wages as Liverpool. Arsenal’s wages totalled £9.9m before social security and pension costs, and they went on to win the Champions League.
Despite growing revenues, Liverpool’s accounts highlight the relative fragility of the elite women’s game. Like Arsenal’s, Liverpool’s accounts make reference to a “reliance” on the parent company for financial support. Most WSL clubs depend on the financial backing of their men’s team.
Another section of the directors’ report published within these public financial accounts states: “The directors consider the principal risks and uncertainties with the running of a professional football club is in relation to salary levels and the aim is to manage these costs within financial restraints, whilst remaining as competitive as possible.”
Liverpool’s overall turnover was £6.1m, with costs of £5.7m, and the club recorded a profit before tax of £165,000, down from the previous year’s £645,000.
