By David Owen
January 23 – Paris Saint-Germain’s meteoric, Qatar-fuelled surge to the top table of European football is highlighted today by publication of the 2012-13 Deloitte Football Money League. The table, a simple ranking of the world’s top 20 clubs by revenue, has PSG at number five, below only the two Spanish giants, European champions Bayern Munich and Manchester United – and above Manchester City, the other club most palpably boosted by Gulf funding, in its case from Abu Dhabi.
Zlatan Ibrahimović’s present employer did not even make the table originally published last year because its figures were not available, although it was ultimately ranked 10th. Deloitte says its revenue has “almost quadrupled to €398.8 million since 2010/11.” By contrast, Olympique Marseille and Olympique Lyonnais, two other French clubs included in last year’s ranking, have dropped out of the top 20.
Real Madrid top the table for a ninth straight year with revenue of €518.9 million, ahead of Spanish rivals Barcelona, with Bayern’s rise pushing United out of the top three for the first time.
While this is largely a reflection of the German club’s on-field success, it is also partly a function of fluctuating exchange rates. Had the £/€ exchange rate remained at the level used for compiling last year’s table, United would have retained third spot.
Given that the new Premier League broadcasting deals will only start to be reflected in next year’s Money League, there is a good chance that United will quickly bounce back, in spite of the team’s patchy current form under David Moyes.
The year-on-year decline in sterling’s value against the euro also largely explains why the euro-denominated revenues of all three London clubs in the Top 20 – Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham – fell compared with a year earlier.
Juventus Turin’s revenues have bounded upwards, carrying the club to ninth spot in the latest table, presumably reflecting the benefits of the new stadium. Meanwhile Turkish clubs Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe have attained the Top 20’s lower reaches.
According to Deloitte, overall revenue for the world’s 20 highest-earning clubs reached €5.4 billion last season, equating to growth of 8%. “All clubs in the top 30 generated revenue over €100 million,” said Dan Jones, partner in Deloitte’s sports business group. “In our first edition of the Money League in 1996/97 only Manchester United topped this figure.”
The Deloitte Football Money League – 2012/13 revenue
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