The 30 Most Costly Squads in World Football [Ranked]

Over the years, the amount of money thrown around in football has become almost hard to believe. Teams all over the world are spending greater sums on players, hoping that it can make a difference.

Sometimes, big money has big results. You only need to look at what Declan Rice has done for Arsenal since joining for £105m, or what Jude Bellingham has done since his £88.5m transfer to Real Madrid. Other times, there’s less of a guarantee.

Following the conclusion of the 2024 summer transfer window, which saw huge amounts of money spent, CIES Football Observatory has confirmed which 30 squads in world football have cost the most. Although clubs from all corners of the globe make appearances, English teams dominate the rest.

30-21

Bournemouth sit above the Italian Champions

Kicking off the bottom third of this list is a team that once attempted to spend bucket loads of money on the likes of James Rodriguez, Joao Moutinho and Radamel Falcao in an attempt to overthrow PSG in Ligue 1. Monaco are far from the powerhouse they once attempted to be, but still hold plenty of value in the squad through the likes of Aleksandr Golovin and Folarin Balogun.

The French league side are followed by a Premier League quartet made up of Brentford, Southampton, Crystal Palace and Leicester, all of whom will have survival in the top flight as their biggest priority despite the fact that they have teams that can compete towards the top based purely on how much each cost to assemble. They fall just behind 2024 Champions League runners-up Borussia Dortmund, whose 25th place position makes their run to Wembley all the more impressive.

Bournemouth find themselves sandwiched between the two Milan giants, despite losing their talismanic forward Dominic Solanke in what was a club record sale. The final spot in the bottom ten also goes to another Italian side, as Napoli fall down ever so slightly following the loss of Victor Osimhen, who was given an incredible welcome to Turkey by Galatasaray fans after his late move.

20-11

Brighton fall just short of Barcelona

Nottingham Forest find themselves sitting in 20th spot, meaning that a Premier League team who have finished no higher than 16th since their return to the top flight has a more expensive squad than the last three Italian champions. RB Leipzig are the second team from Germany to appear, despite losing one of their star players in Dani Olmo over the summer.

West Ham, Wolves and Brighton complete another English trifecta, before being trumped by Barcelona. The Spanish giants remain one of the biggest household names in European football, but their financial issues mean that their squad cost sits only just above a team that were almost relegated to League 1 the same season that Lionel Messi led Barca to their most recent Champions League triumph.

Unai Emery’s has been well backed by Aston Villa and with good reason as the club embarks on their first run in Europe’s elite competition since the 1980s. 13th may be unlucky for some as the saying goes, but the opposite could be said for Al-Hilal, with the expensive purchases of Neymar, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Aleksandar Mitrovic helping the Saudi Arabian side become the only non-European team to appear in the top 30.

Atletico Madrid haven’t been afraid to splash the cash in 2024, leading to their squad cost climbing to 12th, while Bayern Munich, coming off the back of a disappointing Bundesliga campaign, fall outside the top 10.

10-1

Chelsea and Manchester United lead the way

Two teams famous for playing in black and white kick things off in the top 10 as the fallen giants of Juventus and the resurgent Newcastle claim tenth and ninth respectively. They are then followed by the reigning Spanish and European champions in Real Madrid. In terms of the pure squad value of the squad, Los Blancos would likely be even higher. However, the fact that Kylian Mbappe joined the club on a free, as did the likes of Antonio Rudiger and David Alaba, means that Carlo Ancelotti’s side have managed to save most of their pennies for the incredible wages they have to fork out.

Liverpool are seventh after adding just Federico Chiesa to their immediate playing squad in 2024. With the contracts of three of their star players expiring soon, they could find the squad value dropping next summer. Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham follow, before a final four made up of Premier League teams with contrasting forms.

Arsenal and Manchester City sit third and fourth, showing what happens when you invest money wisely, as the two sides have been engaged in a tight title battle over the last couple of seasons. Above them in this table though are Chelsea and Manchester United. The two teams with the highest net spend in English football since 2022 also have the most expensive squads in the world, but it hasn’t even led them to Champions League qualification, let alone any resemblance of major trophies or success. These two sides are prime examples of what happens when you spend money frivolously without a plan or structure in mind.