In the midweek round of the top flight of Italian football, Antonio Conte's Napoli temporarily increased their lead over their closest pursuers Milan and Roma, thanks to a narrow victory over Lecce (0-1), away. Together with the victory over Inter in the previous round (3-1), this victory over the Salento team helps to ease the shock of the environment following the heavy debacle in the third round of the Champions League where the Neapolitans were heavily beaten PSV Eindhoven 6-2. If the Champions League group stage were to end now, Napoli could only qualify for the playoffs with three points against one of the best second-placed teams. However, since they're not even halfway there, there's certainly time to climb the table and reach more reassuring waters.
The Azzurri have undoubtedly seemed to be comfortable in Serie A for some time now, so much so that they've won two of the last three seasons. Among the top teams, the Neapolitans appear to be among the most cost-effective. Their wage bill isn't among the cheapest, at around €110 million, but it's still lower than that of Juventus and Inter and slightly higher than that of Roma. For comparison, Lazio, with a wage bill of around €80 million, is 10 points below Napoli in the standings. This means that each point has currently cost Napoli around €5,2 million, while the Biancocelesti have spent €7.27 million so far.
After all, in the football bets Bookmakers give Napoli the clear favorite, tied with Inter Milan (2.85), followed by AC Milan at 3.85. These days, making a basic financial assessment (expenses/revenues) of a Serie A club is a very complicated task. The linchpin on which any assessment hinges is the notorious liquidity ratio, or the AC/PC ratio between Current Assets (AC) and Current Liabilities (PC). Currently, this parameter must not be lower than 0.8.
However, the liquidity ratio will be phased out starting in 2026 and replaced by the UEFA reference model, which establishes three crucial criteria: financial soundness, through ongoing checks on outstanding debts; economic balance, with a maximum net loss of €5 million (and a cumulative cap of €60 million), plus a 10% increase in share capital; and finally, expense management, with a salary-to-income ratio set at 70% for the 2025/26 season.
Net of these considerations, the summer transfer market has brought the Neapolitans a profit of almost €50 million. In practice, Napoli has moved very well in the transfer market summer, making a significant profit without weakening the squad, which is evident at least so far, considering the top spot in the league table. Finally, the box office contributes to the Azzurri's economic well-being with approximately €38 million (2023) and TV rights amounting to €67,8 million (2025).
Changes and revisions to this article
- Article updated on 31/10/2025 at 12:36 - Typo corrected
- Article updated on 19/11/2025 at 11:49 - Article revised
- Article updated on 01/12/2025 at 14:17 - Typo corrected
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Comments (1)
I read the article about Napoli, and it seems like they're doing well in the league, but I don't know if they can climb back into the Champions League. However, the numbers regarding revenue and expenditure are interesting. I hope they can do better.