Is high spending an essential requirement for avoiding relegation?

Jacopo Carmassi – Numeri in Palla – Social Media Soccer / Social Football Summit column, April 2, 2026

Imagine you are the owner or executive of a men’s football club in Serie B that has just achieved an exceptional sporting milestone: promotion to Serie A. Imagine that, while the fans and the city are still celebrating, your mind is already turned toward the future, toward those first summer decisions that will lay the foundation for the season in the top flight. Together with your collaborators, you will have to make numerous complex and vital decisions. Let’s focus on one decision in particular: how much must you spend to maximize your chances of securing survival in Serie A?

Key Premises

Let’s state clearly, to remove any doubt, that in football there are decisive elements that cannot be captured by economic and financial figures: the chemistry between players, their relationship with the manager and his charisma, the organization and efficiency of the club, and the atmosphere within the club, the city, and the fanbase. However, economic figures naturally remain a significant component. Let’s look at some—with a few brief methodological premises.

This analysis, based on data reported by clubs in their financial statements, does not aim to offer definitive evidence or identify automatic links between costs incurred and the possibility of survival (and it certainly does not venture into predictions regarding the current season, as figures and reflections are based exclusively on financial reports, which are not yet available for the 2025/2026 season). Rather, the goal is to provide indications of trends generally observed in recent years. Furthermore, some inevitable approximations must be made—for instance, because data is sometimes reported differently by clubs without the same degree of detail, and because some clubs’ financial years follow the calendar year (January-December) instead of the football season (July-June). Despite these caveats, the numbers offer interesting insights.

How much did it cost to stay up in Serie A in the 2024/2025 season?

In the 2024/2025 season, the three clubs relegated from Serie A to Serie B were Empoli (18th place), Venezia (19th place), and Monza (20th place). Let’s look at their “production costs”—the total costs incurred by a club in that season. This entry includes various types of expenses, from wages and salaries to social security contributions, logistics, services, amortization, depreciation, and costs for loaning players.

The amortization figure is particularly relevant because it includes the depreciation of multi-year rights to players’ performances (recorded as assets on the balance sheet)—that is, the portion of the investment in player transfer fees attributed to the current financial year. (For example: if a club buys a player for 100 on a 5-year contract, it will record a cost of 20 each year in the income statement using straight-line amortization). Financial charges and taxes are not included in the production cost.

Returning to the three relegated clubs: Monza had the highest production costs (139.1 million euros; however, Monza’s data refers to the 2024 calendar year and thus includes data from the second half of the 2023/2024 Serie A season). Empoli recorded total production costs of 69.6 million euros and Venezia 86.8 million euros. Therefore, the three relegated clubs had an average of approximately 98.5 million euros, but with very different values—Monza (last place) spent roughly double the costs of Empoli (18th place) and 1.6 times the costs of Venezia (19th place).

If we look at the teams that finished between 14th and 17th place (Verona 14th, Cagliari 15th, Parma 16th, Lecce 17th) and thus secured survival, these four clubs recorded average production costs of 92.2 million euros. This average is lower than that of the three relegated clubs (98.5 million euros), but higher than the figures for Venezia and especially Empoli, and significantly lower than Monza’s figure.

Behind the 92.2 million average, there are significant differences: while Parma and Verona had values exceeding 100 million euros (105.9m and 102.4m respectively), Lecce’s figure was approximately 83.5 million euros (slightly lower than Venezia and much lower than Monza), and Cagliari’s was below 80 million euros (around 77m).

The picture emerging from production cost data tells us that spending more than other clubs in the relegation battle—even significantly more—does not necessarily mean securing survival, and that it is possible to stay up while spending less than direct competitors.

The Wage Bill

If we consider only wage costs within the overall production costs, the picture is similar. These figures include not only players’ salaries but all salaries paid by the club, including managers, technical staff, and all other employees. While player salaries are a determining factor—both quantitatively and in terms of on-field impact (higher-paid players are generally stronger)—the total wage cost also reflects the club’s investment in its technical and administrative structure.

Monza incurred a total wage cost of approximately 58.3 million euros (calendar year 2024). This value is higher not only than the other two relegated teams (Venezia: 44m; Empoli: 35.2m) but also higher than the teams that survived. For the four clubs from 14th to 17th place, the average was 37.5 million euros, with a peak of 43.7m for Parma and a minimum of 30.3m for Cagliari. All four of these surviving clubs incurred lower wage costs than two of the three relegated teams (Venezia and Monza), and one (Cagliari) recorded a lower value than Empoli as well.

What about transfer fee investments?

One might argue that investments in new players are a crucial element. Investments in player registrations (“cartellini”) made in a season are not entirely reflected in personnel and production costs for that same season: these costs are recorded as assets, and only the amortization portion is charged to the income statement.

However, transfer investment data offers complementary information about a club’s spending to strengthen the squad. It is difficult to identify a “minimum” threshold or an “ideal” investment value for survival because the same expenditure can have different effects depending on the existing squad.

Returning to 2024/2025: while Empoli’s investment in transfer fees was near zero, Monza invested about 12.3 million euros and Venezia over 15 million. The four surviving teams (14th-17th) invested an average of 29.7 million euros—more than the relegated teams—but with sharp differences: 16.7m for Lecce and 18.7m for Verona, while Parma invested 39m and Cagliari 44.3m.

As with production and personnel costs, transfer investments confirm there are no rigid rules: some teams manage to stay up with relatively modest spending on new signings.

Squad Value

It is also useful to look at the squad value, understood as the sum of the original purchase costs of all players in the squad (gross of changes over time like amortization or write-downs). This is a simplification based on historical cost rather than market value models.

Monza had a squad with a historical cost of about 101 million euros, while Empoli and Venezia were lower (below 54.4m and 61.5m). Verona and Lecce had similar values (around 61m and 52m respectively), while Cagliari and Parma stood at 99m and 118m. Again, the message is the same: survival is possible even with relatively contained squad values.

No Magic Formula (Fortunately)

In conclusion, there is no magic number for costs and investments that guarantees survival. Contentious spending does not preclude staying in the top flight. Of course, if one spends 200 or 300 million instead of 50 or 100, the impact on sporting results is highly likely. But there is a wide bracket of clubs fighting for survival whose financial values are comparable—especially when compared to the top teams who incur costs in the hundreds of millions.

Within this group, financial power does not seem to be a decisive factor, leaving room for sporting “fairytales” and for a club’s ability to attract and maximize talent while maintaining financial sustainability. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if such uncertainty applied to the entire league, and perhaps to all European club competitions?

Jacopo Carmassi is a Principal Economist at the European Central Bank and an expert in the economic and financial aspects of the football industry. All opinions expressed on Social Media Soccer and the Social Football Summit are purely personal and do not, in any way, represent the views or involve the responsibility of the European Central Bank or any other institutions with which the author is affiliated.