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Championship clubs made more in revenue in 2022-23 than they spent on wages for the first time in six years, Deloitte said in its annual report on football finances.
A total revenue of £749m saw a 10% increase for clubs in English football’s second tier from the previous year.
It was the fifth most attended league in Europe, with its cumulative attendance of about 10 million putting it behind only the Premier League, Germany’s Bundesliga, Italy’s Serie A and La Liga in Spain.
Despite this, no single club generated an overall profit before player trading, with the league recording an overall loss of £316m, the report said.
Wages in the Premier League surpassed £4bn for the first time as clubs took £6.1bn in revenue.
A total of £706m was spent on wages in the Championship – the first time revenue exceeded wage costs since 2016-17.
‘Many clubs propped up by owner funding’
“The Football League may have seen an uptick in revenues in 2022-23, but clubs across the EFL are still battling to manage cash requirements,” Deloitte’s business sport group’s lead partner Trevor Bridge said.
“Many clubs are propped up by owner funding as they aspire to win promotion, but exiting the league at the wrong end exposes a club to instability.
“This makes a strategy for long-term stability critical, underpinned by appropriate support provided by the governing bodies.”
Approximately £200m [27%] of Championship revenue came from the five clubs receiving parachute payments after Premier League relegation in the previous three seasons, which were Burnley, Watford, Norwich City, Sheffield United and West Bromwich Albion.
Champions Burnley, runners-up Sheffield United and play-off winners Luton Town secured promotion that season and have all since been relegated back to the Championship, meaning they will begin a new cycle of parachute payments next season.
The EFL as a whole took a total of £1.1 billion in 2022-23, with 19.8 million fans attending games across all three leagues for the year.
The EFL fixtures for 2024-25 are due to be released on Wednesday at 09:00 BST.