3QUESTION 3 OF 3
Answer & explanation
The official answer, with Fermi’s reasoning step by step.
Answer & explanation
Official answer
3,200,000,000
British pounds
How to estimate it
Fermi’s official “Napkin math”
Start with 20 clubs of about 25 players each. What does a Premier League player earn? Stars get hundreds of thousands a week, so call it £100,000, about £5 million a year.
- Players in the league
- 20 clubs × 25 = 500
- Pay each (£100,000 a week)
- × £5,000,000
- 500 × £5M
- ≈ £2,500,000,000
Rounded assumptions may give a slightly different estimate. The official answer above is the game’s reference value.
Source calculation & reference
- Wage costs of all 20 clubs, players and staff, 2024/25 (Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance 2026)
- £4.4 billion
- Players' share of wages at European top-flight clubs (UEFA, €13.2 billion of €18 billion)
- × 73%
- 4.4 billion × 0.73
- ≈ £3.2 billion
- ≈
- £3,200,000,000
Reference cited by Fermi: Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance 2026 (Premier League clubs, 2024/25 season); UEFA European Club Finance and Investment Landscape (player share of wages)
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