Wigan Athletic crest

Wigan Athletic

Heartbreak#3576.1

Wigan, Manchester · England · League One

Major cups
1
last 2013

Power-ranking history

Rank (1 = best)1309Score (per-season normalised)0.00.51.009/10

Against expectation

Every English top-flight match this club has played, scored against the odds an Elo rating gave it before kick-off. Over 8 seasons from 2005-06 to 2012-13 it has fallen short of them by −0.0 match points.

2005-06 to 2012-13one bar per season · height in match points

Best season against expectation
2011-12 +5.3 league pts
43 points on 37.7 expected as Wigan Athletic
Worst season against expectation
2009-10 −5.6 league pts
36 points on 41.6 expected as Wigan Athletic

Season points use that season’s own scoring, two for a win before 1981-82 and three after; the bars use match points so the whole series is comparable.

Manchester against expectation →How this is measured →

What the squad was worth

Total market value of the squad, EUR millions, by month; the player count beside it is the size of the priced squad.

How this is measured

Drawn as a step, not a curve: Transfermarkt reprices every squad in December and June (marked with a small tick on the axis) and revalues continuously between, so the line only moves when a real valuation changed, never by interpolation.

A month renders no value at all once the priced squad falls below 15 players, so a thin squad is never shown as a cheap one. The series is floored at July 2012 on purpose: earlier Transfermarkt totals reflect which players happened to be priced yet rather than the squad’s real worth, and are excluded rather than shown misleadingly low.

Upstream (dcaribou/transfermarkt-datasets) has been paused since July 2026, so the series ends where the source ends rather than where the season does.

Player valuations from Transfermarkt via github.com/dcaribou/transfermarkt-datasets (CC0).

What the squad was worth€12m
0387712-1314-1516-1718-1920-2123-24

Peak
€71m in Jan 2013 · 27 players valued
Most recent
€12m in Dec 2024 · 18 players valued

Manchester on the rankings →

The money ledger

Fees paid and received each season, and what the squad was worth once the trading is netted out.

How this is measured

Spent is the fees paid for players arriving, received the fees for players leaving, both in EUR millions by the July-to-June season of the move. A move with no fee on record (a free, a loan, an undisclosed sum) is counted, never priced: the small figure beside each total is the moves with a fee, plus those without (so 4+3 is four priced arrivals and three unpriced), and a quiet window is not mistaken for a cheap one. Wages are not here: they are estimates nobody licenses, and fees are documented.

Appreciation is the season’s change in squad value with the net spend taken out: buy 100m of players and finish 100m higher is zero; finish 120m higher and the club made 20m of players better, or the market repriced them. It needs a priced squad at both ends of the season (the same 15-player floor as the value chart), so it is blank rather than guessed for a season that lacks one.

The source has been paused since 6 July 2026, so the final row holds only the opening days of its window.

Transfer fees and player valuations from Transfermarkt via github.com/dcaribou/transfermarkt-datasets (CC0).

The money ledger+€29m
Spent
€14m
11 arrivals with a fee
Received
€43m
12 departures with a fee
Net
+€29m
155 moves with no fee
Appreciation
−€14m
10 seasons with a priced squad

Grown or bought: in 2025-26, trading €0m and appreciation —. Over the last 5 seasons (2021-22–2025-26), trading +€4m and appreciation unpriced.

The director’s ledger: 25 arrivals graded since 2022-23, 2 ungraded, 100% EV-positive. No fee-paying arrivals to grade a multiplier on.

2025-26 spent — received —
7 moves, no fee on record
—
unpriced
2024-25 spent — received €4m
out: Thelo Aasgaard €4m
—
unpriced
2023-24 spent — received —
21 moves, no fee on record
−€2m
squad gain
2022-23 spent — received —
10 moves, no fee on record
−€2m
squad gain
2021-22 spent €0m received —
in: Graeme Shinnie €0m
—
unpriced
2020-21 spent — received €6m
out: Kieffer Moore €2m
—
unpriced
2019-20 spent €8m received —
in: Kieffer Moore €3m
−€7m
squad gain
2018-19 spent — received €4m
out: Dan Burn €4m
+€16m
squad gain

Money against football

Every priced club-season in the six leagues: points against expectation across, squad value gained beyond the net spend up. This club’s seasons are joined.

● the frontier: no other club-season beat it on both axes · ● this club, season by season, the largest dot the latest

Every club’s return on the transfer window →

Greatest games

Wigan Athletic's top matches by the club Game Score: closeness, stakes, quality and upset over one unified rating of league and European play. H, A and N mark home, away and a neutral venue; a ★ is a curated all-time classic (tap it for the model's own score).All-time board.

1
2013-05-11 · FA Cup · Final
70.8
game score
2
2014-03-09 · FA Cup · Quarterfinals
66.5
game score
3
2006-01-10 · League Cup · Semifinals · 1st leg
60.9
game score
4
2014-04-12 · FA Cup · Semifinals
60.5
game score
5
2018-02-19 · FA Cup · Fifth Round
58.2
game score
6
2008-05-11 · Premier League
57.4
game score
7
2006-01-24 · League Cup · Semifinals · 2nd leg, agg 2-2
57.1
game score
8
2011-05-15 · Premier League
53.4
game score
9
SV Zulte-Waregem
2013-11-28 · Europa League · Group Stage
51.7
game score
10
2010-04-18 · Premier League
51.6
game score

Footprint

Tiers played
L1, L2, L3, L4
Top-flight (L1) seasons
8
Lower-tier league seasons
40
First season
1979
Most recent season
2026

The Heartbreak Index6.1 · #357

The Damned · Major trophy, 2013

6.1
Heartbreak
#357
of 1,138 clubs
#229
in Football
3.7
agony · 2.4 despair
The clocks
  • Major trophy since 20133.0
  • Major final appearance since 20131.5
Heaviest wounds

relegated from the top flight, 2013 · relegated from the second tier, 2023 · lost the league cup final, 2006 · relegated from the second tier, 2020

One formula, every club the site covers. See the whole board →

Season-by-season

Most recent season first. Covers Levels 1 through 5 of the English pyramid. Rows tagged "national playoff" are pre-modern formats where the workbook records only playoff participants, not round-robin standings.

2027
League One (3) · P21● live
13 P · 3-1-9 · 11:22 · -11
10
pts
2026
League One (3) · P16
46 P · 14-14-18 · 49:58 · -9
56
pts
2025
League One (3) · P15
46 P · 13-17-16 · 40:42 · -2
56
pts
2024
League One (3) · P12
46 P · 20-10-16 · 63:56 · +7
62
pts
2023
Championship (2) · P24↓
46 P · 10-15-21 · 38:65 · -27
42
pts
2022
League One (3) · P1↑
46 P · 27-11-8 · 82:44 · +38
92
pts
2021
League One (3) · P20
46 P · 13-9-24 · 54:77 · -23
48
pts
2020
Championship (2) · P23↓
46 P · 15-14-17 · 57:56 · +1
59
pts
2019
Championship (2) · P18
46 P · 13-13-20 · 51:64 · -13
52
pts
2018
League One (3) · P1↑
46 P · 29-11-6 · 89:29 · +60
98
pts
2017
Championship (2) · P23↓
46 P · 10-12-24 · 40:57 · -17
42
pts
2016
League One (3) · P1↑
46 P · 24-15-7 · 82:45 · +37
87
pts
Domestic Cup Finals

Most recent first. Every domestic cup final the club has played, including losses. Scheduled finals (date not yet passed) are flagged.

2013
FA Cup
Won
2013
Community Shield
Runner-up
2006
League Cup
Runner-up
European competition appearances

Most recent first. One row per entry showing the deepest round reached. A Cup Winner badge marks tournaments the club won: gold for the European Cup / Champions League, silver for every other UEFA or Intercontinental trophy.

2013-14
Europa League(EL)
Round of 32 / qualifying