Football Manager 2023: Every club's starting budgets

Football Manager 2023: Every club's starting budgets
(Image credit: Future)

The Football Manager 2023 beta is out – and you're going to want to know each club's starting budgets before you take on a job, right? You might know a few of the players, even the expectations of the employers and what the ambitions of the fans are… but come on, how much money do you have in the bank?

Unfortunately though, the start screen doesn't reveal what you're working with. The only way to find out is to take a job and often, you assume that a club will be rich before getting through the door and finding your first job is balancing the books and clearing the deadwood. You could ask your owner for more money – or you could cheat – but we've done the hard work for you. 

We've started a job at every club in Europe's top five leagues, plus the Championship – that's England, France, Italy, Germany and Spain's top tiers – and yes, we were surprised that owners were still putting their faith in nurturing their wonderkids after dozens of times of taking a job, checking the transfer budget and immediately retiring. What we found could just save you doing the same – and it may surprise you to know how flushed or skint some sides in Europe really are…

FM23: Every club's starting budgets in Football Manager 2023, from Europe's top five leagues, plus the Championship

Premier League

Leandro Trossard of Brighton & Hove Albion celebrates after scoring their sides first goal during the Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Brighton & Hove Albion at Anfield on October 01, 2022 in Liverpool, England.

Brighton & Hove Albion have the second-largest transfer budget of any club in the Premier League, following Manchester City (Image credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images))
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The starting budgets of every Premier League club in Football Manager 2023
ClubTransfer budgetWage budgetFinancial status
Arsenal£26.22m£258k p/wSecure
Aston Villa£30m£65k p/wOkay
Bournemouth£1m£30k p/wSecure
Brentford£6.8m£40k p/wSecure
Brighton & Hove Albion£70m£188k p/wRich
Chelsea£13.5m£150k p/wSecure
Crystal Palace£1.7m£25k p/wSecure
Everton£2m£50k p/wRich
Fulham£7.4m£85k p/wSecure
Leeds United£25m£70k p/wSecure
Leicester City£10m£80k p/wRich
Liverpool£42m£250k p/wRich
Manchester City£102m£531k p/wRich
Manchester United£20m£500k p/wSecure
Newcastle United£40m£525k p/wRich
Nottingham Forest£1.5m£25k p/wSecure
Southampton£20m£101k p/wSecure
Tottenham Hotspur£26.4m£198k p/wRich
West Ham United£3.9m£73.69k p/wSecure
Wolverhampton Wanderers£3.9m£50k p/wSecure

So that's… odd. Yes, Brighton are the second-richest club at the start of FM23 after moneybags Manchester City. But don't worry: there's a perfectly good reason for this.

The Seagulls, as you may remember, sold Marc Cucurella towards the end of the 2022 summer transfer window, without really investing too much of that £60 million that they received. That's how Football Manager works: the players that have just been signed by each club are factored into the budget for the first transfer window. 

Bear in mind, too, that a club's financial status is not too reflective of what the opening budgets are. This essentially just explains how the club is run: a club with insecure status, for example, would be unlikely to increase your wage budget if you request it and would probably ensure that a percentage of all player sales goes back into the club and not the transfer pot. 

Championship

Vakoun Issouf Bayo of Watford celebrates their sides fourth goal with team mate Keinan Davis during the Sky Bet Championship between Stoke City and Watford at Bet365 Stadium on October 02, 2022 in Stoke on Trent, England.

Watford are one of the Championship's big hitters on FM23 (Image credit: Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
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The starting budgets of every Championship club in Football Manager 2023
ClubTransfer budgetWage budgetFinancial status
Birmingham City£500k£5k p/wInsecure
Blackburn Rovers£1m£10k p/wOkay
Blackpool£200k£5.05k p/wOkay
Bristol City£0£1k p/wOkay
Burnley£4m£10k p/wRich
Cardiff City£500k£15k p/wOkay
Coventry City£0£0Okay
Huddersfield£0£0Okay
Hull City£1.4m£10k p/wOkay
Luton£50k£2k p/wSecure
Middlesbrough£7.5m£40k p/wOkay
Millwall£0£2k p/wOkay
Norwich City£5m£10k p/wRich
Preston North End£500k£20k p/wOkay
Queens Park Rangers£400k£0Okay
Reading£0£0Okay*
Rotherham£300k£2.5k p/wOkay
Sheffield United£1m£10k p/wSecure
Stoke City£0£25k p/wSecure
Sunderland£1m£15k p/wOkay
Swansea City£260k£4.6k p/wSecure
Watford£200k£40k p/wRich
West Bromwich Albion£2.5m£10k p/wRich
Wigan Athletic£50k£5k p/wOkay

*Reading have a transfer ban and cannot sign attached players until June 9 2023

The richest club in the Championship is Middlesbrough, partly thanks to the sale of Djed Spence to Tottenham, while Norwich and Burnley, who dropped down from the Premier League last season both have some money to spend. 

Look out if you're looking to manage Birmingham City. The club has a minimal transfer budget but the insecurity of their finances means that there's an onus to balance the books rather than splash out. 

Ligue 1

Kylian Mbappe gives a thumb up following the Ligue 1 match between PSG and Marseille on 16 October, 2022 at the Parc des Princes, Paris, France

Paris Saint-Germain are well-backed in Football Manager 2023 (Image credit: AFP via Getty Images)
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The starting budgets of every Ligue 1 club in Football Manager 2023
ClubTransfer budgetWage budgetFinancial status
Ajaccio£431k£0Okay
Auxerre£86.21k£0Secure
Angers£2.58m£0Secure
AS Monaco£17.24m£0Secure
Brest£1.72m£0Okay
Clermont£3.44m£0Secure
Lorient£2.58m£0Secure
Nantes£2.58m£0Okay
LOSC (Lille)£17.24m£0Secure
Montpellier£1.72m£0Secure
Nice£4.31m£0Okay
OL (Lyon)£8.62m£16.53k p/wRich
OM (Marseille)£9.48m£0Secure
PSG£68.97m£0Secure
Lens£4.31m£0Secure
Reims£862k£0Secure
Rennes£8.62m£0Okay
Strasbourg£5.6m£0Secure
Toulouse£1.29m£0Secure
Troyes£862k£0Secure

For all but one club in Ligue 1 – Lyon – you're going to have to adjust your budgets or sell a player if you're looking to bring in anyone new. That's because no club has any wage budget, with many having little to no transfer budget either. 

Lyon are set in the game as "rich" financially, which means the board should be favourable to your economic plans. 

Bundesliga

Bayern Munich players celebrate their team's first goal during the UEFA Champions match between Bayern Munich and Viktoria Plzen on 4 October, 2022 at the Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany

Bayern Munich are perhaps unsurprisingly the richest German team in FM23 (Image credit: Boris Streubel/Getty Images)
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The starting budgets of every Bundesliga club in Football Manager 2023
ClubTransfer budgetWage budgetFinancial status
1. FC Koln£431k£30.01k p/wSecure
Bayer Leverkusen£6.89m£24.8k p/wRich
Borussia Dortmund£8.62m£53.89k p/wSecure
Borussia Monchengladbach£4.31m£90.08k p/wRich
Eintracht Frankfurt£4.31m£78.65k p/wSecure
Augsburg£832k£18.75k p/wSecure
Bayern Munich£17.24m£194k p/wRich
Hertha Berlin£2.15m£52.51k p/wSecure
Hoffenheim£7.73m£59.98k p/wRich
Mainz£5.17m£29.95k p/wSecure
RB Leipzig£17.24m£123k p/wSecure
Freiburg£1.29m£15.02k p/wSecure
Schalke 04£862k£45.74k p/wInsecure
Werder Bremen£3.37m-£1.8k p/wOkay
Union Berlin£862k£16.53k p/wSecure
Stuttgart£4.74m£23.61k p/wRich
Bochum£0£7.32k p/wSecure
Wolfsburg£6.89m£58.92k p/wSecure

Bundesliga wage budgets are minimal but given that most clubs are either secure financially, you should have scope to bring in one or two players before selling anyone, should you take a job in Germany.

Be sure to balance the books if you take on Schalke. The Gelsenkirchen-based outfit as listed as insecure financially and may require you to jettison some names to bring in some cash. 

La Liga

Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong in action during the La Liga match between Barcelona and Elche on 17 September, 2022 at Spotify Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona's summer transfer activity reflects on their state in FM23 (Image credit: NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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The starting budgets of every La Liga club in Football Manager 2023
ClubTransfer budgetWage budgetFinancial status
Athletic Bilbao£21.55m£26.17k p/wRich*
Atletico Madrid£817k£7.1k p/wSecure
Almeria£5.98m£83.41k p/wSecure
Atletico Pamplona (Osasuna)£0£1.91k p/wSecure
Barcelona£0£15.47k p/wOkay
Cadiz£1.89m£3.56k p/wSecure
Elche£4.44m-£2.9k p/wSecure
Espanyol£4.31m£21.57k p/wSecure
Getafe£1.29m-£3.62k p/wSecure
Girona£2.8m-£5.28k p/wSecure
Mallorca£862k£6.39k p/wSecure
Real Madrid£103m-£3.85k p/wRich
Real Hispalis (Betis)£2.58m£319Secure
Real San Sebastian (Sociedad)£11.17m£36.61k p/wRich
Sevilla£4.31m£27.01k p/wSecure
Valencia£1.72m-£14.26k p/wSecure
Valladolid£0£5.6k p/wSecure
Vallecano£0-£4.43k p/wSecure
Vigo (Celta)£1.02m-£14.61k p/wSecure
Villarreal£12.93m£8.14k p/wSecure

*Athletic Bilbao operate with a cantera policy and will not allow you to sign non-Basque players

Barcelona are an interesting club: seemingly thrifty enough to go on a spree in the summer, they're only listed as financially "okay" in FM23 and don't have much more money to spend after bringing in the likes of Raphinha or Robert Lewandowski.

That means that your board may consider taking a cut from any transfer sales, should you look to do any more overhauling of the squad in your first window. A number of Spanish sides are in the red for wages too, so be aware of that when you take on a job. 

Serie A

Dusan Vlahovic of Juventus celebrates 1-0 goal during the Serie A match between Juventus and AS Roma at Allianz Stadium on August 27, 2022 in Turin, Italy.

Juventus begin with a net negative wage budget in FM23 (Image credit: Daniele Badolato - Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images)
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The starting budgets of every Serie A club in Football Manager 2023
ClubTransfer budgetWage budgetFinancial status
AS Roma£12.67m£0Secure
Atalanta£10.6m£0Secure
Bologna£6.2m£0Secure
Brianza (Monza)£5.6m£0Secure
Cremonese£2.58m£30.73k p/wSecure
Empoli£5.17m£0Secure
Fiorentina£10.49m£0Secure
Inter Milan£14.65m£11.5k p/wSecure
Juventus£15.6m-£14.87k p/wOkay
Lazio£13.01m£23.39k p/wSecure
Milan£16.98m£12.43k p/wRich
Pathenope (Napoli)£14.74m£6.58k p/wSecure
Salento (Lecce)£2.84m£0Secure
Salernitana£4.31m£0Secure
Sampdoria£4.74m£1.69k p/wSecure
Sassuolo£7.75m£18.65k p/wSecure
Spezia£4.31m£0Secure*
Torino£8.01m£0Secure
Udinese£6.63m£0Secure
Verona£7.75m£0Secure

*Sassuolo have a transfer ban in place until July 1 2022

Only reigning Scudetto holders AC Milan are listed in FM23 as rich, when it comes to Serie A. The majority of clubs are secure, so there's scope to at least have a rebuild with most Italian top-flight outfits.

You're going to have to either sell some Juventus players or fiddle with the budget slider. The Old Lady start with a negative wage bill – we're blaming Paul Pogba. 

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Mark White
Content Editor

Mark White has been at on FourFourTwo since joining in January 2020, first as a staff writer before becoming content editor in 2023. An encyclopedia of football shirts and boots knowledge – both past and present – Mark has also represented FFT at both FA Cup and League Cup finals (though didn't receive a winners' medal on either occasion) and has written pieces for the mag ranging on subjects from Bobby Robson's season at Barcelona to Robinho's career. He has written cover features for the mag on Mikel Arteta and Martin Odegaard, and is assisted by his cat, Rosie, who has interned for the brand since lockdown.