Fifteen of last season’s 20 Premier League teams featured in the top 30 of Deloitte’s 2026 Money List.
It is easy to see why then English clubs appear to be head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to the Europa League and the Conference League.
Premier League clubs earn more than £1.37bn per season in television rights, a figure La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 could only match combined.
Brighton are easily the richest club in the Conference League this season, while Bournemouth and Crystal Palace both appear in last season’s top 30.
Last season Aston Villa beat Freiburg comfortably in the Europa League final, with a revenue more than double the Germans’.
Crystal Palace won the Conference League with a revenue of almost four times more than Rayo Vallecano, the side they saw off in the final.
In 2025, Tottenham beat Manchester United in the Europa League final. In the Premier League, they finished 17th and 15th respectively.
In 2022-23, West Ham finished 14th and won the Conference League.
All the evidence points to the Premier League’s collective strength. Take away Europe’s richest and England dominates.
The summer transfer window was further evidence of Europe’s struggles against the Premier League, with the latter again setting a new transfer spend record of £3.49bn to dwarf their rival leagues.
Of the 20 most expensive transfers completed in the summer only six were not to clubs in the English top flight.
You now have Premier League clubs – away from the traditional big six – beating other top European sides to signings.
Premier League wages are generally higher and the league is increasingly seen as the place to be for a lot of European talent.
“With the exception of some of the global brands within football, and I think you’d look at Real Madrid, Barcelona, PSG and Bayern Munich, the Premier League can outspend anyone and everyone,” football finance expert Kieran Maguire said in August.
“A significant proportion of overseas players are now choosing to play in England than elsewhere in Europe because of the wages on offer.”
