CIES: Top 10 Most Expensive Teams in the World

Quieter than the last few seasons, the 2024 summer transfer window will not go down in history, but will at least have had the merit of offering a few interested moves. As the biggest spender in this transfer window, Chelsea will have spent 238.5 million euros this summer. A new ambitious transfer window from the Blues who now have the most expensive squad in the world. Indeed, the CIES, which is the Football Observatory, has ranked the teams that have spent the most money on their current squad. With 1.263 billion euros spent, Chelsea comes out on top.

The Blues are also ahead of two other Premier League teams. Manchester United takes second place with 1.038 billion euros spent. This is slightly more than rival Manchester City, who complete the podium with 1.017 billion euros invested. Moreover, Pep Guardiola’s team spends an average of 56.5 million euros on a player, more than anyone else. Then the gap is gaping since the fourth most expensive team in the world is Arsenal with 798 million euros spent to build the team. The Gunners are just ahead of their historic rival Tottenham, who put 787 million euros on the table.

10 French people in the top 100

A 100% Premier League top 5 followed just behind by Paris Saint-Germain. The Parisians are only sixth with 772 million euros spent. Two other Premier League teams are in the top 10 with Liverpool (7th, €735M) and Newcastle (9th, €683M). Real Madrid only comes in eighth place with 720 million euros spent while Juventus (€626M) concludes this top 10. We note that several big names are absent from the top 10 like Bayern Munich (11th, €588M), Atlético de Madrid (12th, €496M), FC Barcelona (15th, €461M), AC Milan (22nd, €375M) or Inter Milan (24th, €329M). Note that 19 of the 20 Premier League teams are among the top 32 places (promoted Ipswich Town are 53rd).

The new thing is the rise of Saudi clubs in the economic football chessboard. Al-Hilal ranks in particular ahead of FC Barcelona with a 13th place and 485 million euros spent to build its squad. Al-Nassr comes in 35th place (270M€), Al-Ahli is 39th (226M€) and Al-Ittihad is 40th (224M€). And France in all this? After Paris Saint-Germain who are sixth, we have to go down to 30th place to find AS Monaco with 298 million euros spent to put together the squad. Olympique de Marseille follows in 33rd place (282M€) while Rennes (42nd, 209M€) and Olympique Lyonnais (44th, 207M€) complete the French top 5. In the top 100, we also find Nice (50th, €173M), Lille (60th, €133M), Strasbourg (65th, €126M), Reims (79th, €92M) and Lens (90th, €74M).