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Costliest squads: Chelsea at the top

Issue number 513 of the CIES Football Observatory’s Weekly Post presents the 100 clubs worldwide having committed the most money in transfer fees (including add-ons regardless of actual payment) to recruit their current first team squad players.

Chelsea tops the list with a total investment of €1,314 million, of which €134 million for the most expensive signing (Moisés Caicedo, 10%).

Manchester City (€1,128 million) and Manchester United (€1,071m) round up the podium, followed by two other English clubs : Liverpool (€1,065m) and Arsenal (€1,001m).

No club outside England has invested more than one billion to assemble its squad, with a maximum of €873 million for Champions League title holders Paris St-Germain (7th, just ahead of Real Madrid). Al-Hilal tops the rankings for non-European clubs (€451m, 19th).

Compared to the same date last year, the amounts committed by the ten clubs having invested the most in transfer fees to build their current first team squads increased by 15% (from 8.44 to 9.67 billion) and those of the top 100 by 12% (from 26.23 to 29.42 billion).

This evolution is directly linked to the record transfer spending registered in 2025, as illustrated in this video.

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About the CIES Football Observatory

The CIES Football Observatory is a research group created in 2005 within the Swiss-based Centre International d’Étude du Sport (CIES). It specialises in the statistical analysis of football, in particular in the areas of demographics, transfer values and performance (technical, tactical, physical).

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About the CIES

The International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) is an independent study centre located in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. It was created in 1995 as a joint venture between the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the University of Neuchâtel, the City and State of Neuchatel.

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CIES – Centre International d’Étude du Sport

Avenue DuPeyrou 1, 2000 Neuchâtel
Switzerland
Email:
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Phone +41 32 718 39 00
Fax +41 32 718 39 01

 

 



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