Who was the only EFL Championship club to actually make a profit in 24/25? | OneFootball

The financial landscape of the Championship has become a hot topic of discussion in recent years

The world of football finance has become a hot topic of discussion in recent seasons, with there being several instances of clubs in the EFL struggling on this particular front.

It has been argued that there is a clear disparity between the finances on offer in the Premier League compared to all three divisions in the EFL, and this has been heavily debated amongst Championship supporters in recent times, with certain clubs having some of the strongest resources at second tier level due to parachute payments, but they still haven't been able to compete back in the top-flight after promotion.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, it has been well-documented that the current season has been dominated by off-field events at Sheffield Wednesday.

The Owls are now approaching their final month as a Championship side for now, as they suffered the EFL's earliest-ever relegation in February after being deducted 18 points - 12 of which were for entering administration in October 2025.

Wednesday have been in limbo for some time, but it now appears as though American-based businessman, David Storch and his consortium, Arise Capital Partners, are confident of passing the governing body's Owners' and Directors' test to finalise proceedings ahead of next season, albeit the club could still be hit with further sanctions in League One.

Yet, despite the obvious concerns over the division's financial situation, there was one club who bucked this negative trend in 2024/25.

Stoke City were the only EFL Championship side to post a profit in their accounts for 2024/25

Indeed, the bright lights of reaching the Premier League and eventually becoming an established top-flight side are key attractions to several chairmen and ownership groups of Championship sides.

The likes of Birmingham City and Wrexham are two key examples of this, with both clubs gaining great attention in the United States due to the profile of Tom Wagner and Tom Brady and Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac respectively.

However, a rather damning investigative report from Mike Keegan of the Daily Mail, which has come out during the season's final international break, has showcased that not all is as rosy as it appears to be on the surface for a plethora of Championship clubs.

Wednesday, as previously mentioned, currently remain in administration whilst Hull City were hit with a two-window transfer fee restriction last summer after delayed payments.

The report has revealed that 14 clubs have already filed their accounts for the financial year of 2024/25, and that 13 of those have posted significant losses in comparison to their 2023/24 accounts.

The one club this doesn't concern, though, are Stoke City, who remain under the ownership of John Coates, the CEO of Bet365.

In August 2024, the Potters confirmed that Coates had begun to outrightly own the club's controlling stake of 98.1 percent through Stoke City Holdings Limited, which had been demerged from the Bet365 group.

Within the Daily Mail's report, it was revealed that Stoke had made a profit of £64m, albeit the main reason behind such developments was that the ownership group had written off a £90.5m loan.

However, it was recently claimed by football finance expert, Kieran Maguire, that the club's accounts shouldn't actually look as strong, and that this hasn't paved the way for a strong summer of spending.

"I think the club will have to be cautious as far as this summer is concerned," he said.

"The reason for that is that the debt write-off is not included as part of your PSR [Profit and Sustainability Rules] calculations so you would have to look at it as -£30m rather than a positive of £60m."

Stoke City will hope to progress up the Championship table after recent stagnation

Despite the club's current accounting outlook, recent times have certainly been frustrating for those in North Staffordshire.

Although they spent big in the summer of 2018 after a 10-year stint in the Premier League came to an end, Stoke haven't been able to disrupt the Championship's promotion picture whatsoever in the past eight years.

It seemed as though that was set to change in the early weeks of the current campaign in Mark Robins' first full season at the Bet365 Stadium.

However, a drastic four-month fall-off has seen the Potters slide down to 15th in the table with seven matches remaining on 51 points, equidistant from both the play-off places and the relegation zone.