Cardiff City Post £35.1m Loss Following Championship Relegation

Cardiff City recorded a £35.1m loss during the season they were relegated from the Championship, according to the club’s latest financial accounts.

The accounts, covering the year ending 31 May 2025, show overall liabilities of £161m. The club remains heavily reliant on majority shareholder Vincent Tan, whose loans to Cardiff totalled nearly £90m by the end of the reporting period.

In addition to sums owed to parties connected to Tan, the club also owes £37.3m to a company in which chairman Mehmet Dalman holds a significant interest. Cardiff paid approximately £7m in interest and related expenses, although more than half of Tan’s loans are interest-free.

The accounts confirm that since the end of the reporting period, Cardiff have received a further £19.5m which does not require repayment. The source of that funding has not been disclosed.

Turnover rose slightly by £2.6m to £25.8m, but the club’s wage bill increased to £29.1m during the relegation campaign. The accounts note that most player contracts included relegation clauses.

The £35.1m overall loss represents a £23m increase compared to the previous year, although last season’s figures had been supported by income linked to the sale of a percentage of any successful damages from the club’s legal case with Nantes following the death of striker Emiliano Sala.

Cardiff’s operating loss remained broadly stable at £28.1m.

In notes accompanying the accounts, the club state that relegation from the Championship meant they faced an "immediate challenge" of an "incredibly significant drop in turnover and the actions that by necessity had to be taken around the club's cost base to bridge that gap".

Cost-saving measures have included pausing development of the club’s proposed new training ground until a return to the Championship is secured, as well as increased reliance on academy players as part of a wider squad restructuring.