The cheapest points are in Leicester

A Premier League Team Has the Best Wage-to-Results Ratio. A Point Costs Them €938,000; Chelsea’s Costs Nearly €6 Million.

The Cheapest Points Are in Leicester
Out of the 20 football clubs in the world’s richest competition, the Premier League, Leicester City has the third-lowest player wage bill. Yet this season’s sensation is keeping pace with top teams such as Arsenal and Manchester City. The “Foxes,” as the season’s surprise package is nicknamed, are currently in second place behind Arsenal. However, Leicester is the undisputed leader when it comes to the ratio of player salaries to points earned this season. The club spends €37.5 million annually on wages, and by mid-season it had collected 40 points. This means each point costs the club roughly €938,000. By comparison, Chelsea, owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, pays €5.9 million per point this season. “Leicester is the top surprise of the season and proves that even with limited funds you can compete with the wealthiest teams in the league,” football analyst and agent Jozef Tokos told the Economic Daily.

Exceptional Parity
According to Tokos, the current Premier League season is marked by an extraordinary level of parity not seen in modern English football. “Besides Leicester, other smaller clubs like Watford, Crystal Palace, and West Ham are also moving into the spotlight,” he noted. This balance can be attributed to the growing revenue pool, particularly from record-breaking TV rights sales. Last year alone, over £2 billion was distributed among the clubs, and this figure is expected to grow further in the coming years. “Ten years ago, teams like Leicester or Watford could not afford to buy players for such high sums as they can today. This is thanks, among other factors, to the lucrative TV rights,” said Tokos. Leicester City, owned by Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, the ninth-richest man in Thailand, benefits especially from the superb productivity of the Anglo-French duo Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez. They have scored 28 goals this season, accounting for over 75 percent of the team’s total goals. “Leicester is also near the top thanks to the excellent work of its management, scouts, and player selection. Without Vardy and Mahrez, they would not be where they are today,” Tokos explained. He believes Leicester is unlikely to win the league title but could fight for a Champions League spot — a top-four Premier League finish — right until the final rounds.

The Richest League to Earn Even More
The English Premier League will further cement its status as the world’s richest competition in the future, with clubs set to enjoy tens of millions in additional income. League chief executive Richard Scudamore announced this week that alongside strong domestic TV rights sales, overseas rights sales have also reached record levels. Between 2016 and 2019, rights were sold for $4.7 billion — nearly double the amount from the previous three-year cycle. The most lucrative market is the United States, with broadcaster NBC paying about $1 billion for exclusive Premier League rights over the next six years. The league also secured double the fees from Scandinavian countries and Hong Kong. Negotiations are nearing completion for the last major market, India, where TV rights between 2013 and 2016 brought in almost $150 million; this figure is expected to rise sharply for the next three-year period.