Roma’s 2024/25 accounts covered a season when they finished fifth in Serie A, their best result for five years, though they once again missed out on qualification for the Champions League.
They reached the last 16 of the Europa League, where they were defeated by Athletic Bilbao, and were eliminated by Milan in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia.
Many Changes Off the Pitch
This was Roma’s fifth season under the ownership of The Friedkin Group, who purchased the club from fellow American James Pallotta in August 2020.
In this period, there has been a fair degree of change at Roma, including no fewer than six head coaches.
Paulo Fonseca was the first to go, replaced by José Mourinho, who was sacked in January 2024, despite taking the club to two European finals.
The “special one” was succeeded by club legend Daniele De Rossi, but he was dismissed after a poor start to the current season. Things did not improve under Croatian Ivan Juric, whose stint in the hot seat lasted less than two months.
That ushered in the return of veteran manager Claudio Ranieri, who took charge of the giallorossi for the third time. The current incumbent is Gian Piero Gasperini, who joined Roma after nine successful years at Atalanta.
There has also been movement at a senior level off the pitch, as sporting director Tiago Pinto left by mutual consent in 2024, when he was replaced by Florent Ghisolfi, who had previously held the same role at French clubs Nice and Lens.
However, he only lasted a year before making way for Ricky Massara, who had been sporting director at Milan and Rennes.
League Position
Despite all this upheaval, Roma have been fairly consistent in in the league, finishing between 5th and 7th in each of the last seven seasons. That’s not too bad, but it does represent a decline in performance, as Roma had finished between 2nd and 3rd in the preceding five seasons.
Importantly, this means that Roma have missed out on qualifying for the lucrative Champions League in recent years, which has placed a strain on their finances.
So let’s take a look at the impact of those near misses and how the Friedkins have attempted to balance the books.
Profit/(Loss) 2024/25
Roma’s pre-tax loss significantly reduced by €27m from €76m to €49m, which is the third year in a row that the bottom line has improved, but still represents a sizeable deficit. The much lower losses were needed to comply with the FFP settlement agreement signed with UEFA.
Revenue fell €27m (10%) from €254m to €227m, though this was more than offset by a big reduction in operating expenses, which were cut €61m (17%) from €363m to €302m. Net interest payable increased from €11m to €13m.
Profit from player sales slightly improved from €24m to €27m, but other income from player management was down €8m from €21m to €13m.
The loss after tax also dropped from €81m to €54m.
All three of Roma’s main revenue streams were lower. Broadcasting dropped €14m (13%) from €104m to €90m, while match day fell €11m (20%) from €55m to €44m and commercial was down €6m (6%) from €93m to €87m.
On the other hand, player loans increased from €1.6m to €5.7m.
As a technical aside, this definition of Roma’s €227m revenue is different to the one used in the club accounts of €270m, which also included the €30m gain on player sales and €13m other income from player management. This also decreased by 10% (€30m) from the prior year’s €300m.
Roma’s efforts to get control of their cost base were evident in the steep reduction in wages, which were slashed by €49m (24%) from €202m to €153m. In addition, other expanse were cut €20m (17%) from €117m to €97m.
However, player amortisation rose €8m (19%) from €38m to €46m, while depreciation was up €1m (15%) from €6m to €7m.
Despite the improvement, Roma’s €49m pre-tax loss was still towards the lower end of Serie A last season, as only four clubs had higher deficits, namely Como €105m, Parma €64m, Monza €54m and Juventus €50m.
