Richard Masters, the Premier League's chief executive, earned £2.6m in the year ending 31 July 2025, according to accounts filed with Companies House on Tuesday. The figure includes a performance-related bonus of £1.1m — with the Guardian reporting the bonus element alone reached £1m — representing a marked increase on the £1.9m Masters received in the prior financial year.
The accounts were published by the Premier League as part of its routine Companies House filing and cover a period in which the division continued to negotiate several significant structural and commercial questions, among them the ongoing discussions around a domestic broadcast deal and the introduction of financial regulation through the independent football regulator.
The rise from £1.9m to £2.6m amounts to an increase of roughly 37 per cent in total remuneration year-on-year. The bonus component, at £1.1m, constitutes a substantial share of that overall package, suggesting the league's board judged the year's performance against whatever internal targets had been set to be strong.
Masters has led the Premier League since 2019, overseeing a period that has included the disruption of the pandemic, the collapse of the European Super League proposal, and more recently the introduction of profit and sustainability rules that have produced a series of high-profile charges against clubs. His tenure has also seen successive broadcast rights cycles conclude at figures that have maintained the league's position as the world's most valuable domestic competition by revenue.
The publication of executive remuneration in football invariably draws scrutiny, particularly at a moment when the wider game in England is debating the distribution of funds between the Premier League and the lower divisions. Discussions over a financial settlement with the English Football League have been a recurring feature of the past several years, and the contrast between senior executive pay at the top of the game and the financial precarity of clubs further down the pyramid is a point of contention for reform advocates. The figures disclosed in Tuesday's filing are likely to be cited in those debates, though they reflect a single executive's package rather than the broader financial position of the organisation.