By Paul Nicholson
January 23 – Manchester United have kept the title as the world’s highest revenue generating club, again beating Real Madrid in a year in which the Spanish giants won La Liga and the Champions League.
The Deloitte Football Money League ranks the top clubs in the world by revenue, with the latest figures covering the 2016/17 season which set a new combined record revenue figure of €7.9 billion, 6% up on the previous year.
As highlighted in KPMG’s report and UEFA’s Football Benchmarking report last week, European club competition money has been the decisive factor for the increase in revenues for the top clubs in the table. Real Madrid’s title wins saw their revenue grow by €54.5 million. Man Utd’s big win was the UEFA Europa League, and the €44.5 million it delivered was critical to their topping the Money League with a revenue of €676 million.
The Deloitte authors point out this was four times more than Atlético de Madrid received in 2011/12 for winning the same competition.
Barcelona, second in the table last year, just £100,000 ahead of Real Madrid, grew their revenue by €28 million but were still €26 million behind Real Madrid in third spot this year. Bayern Munich were fourth, ahead of Manchester City, who may be 12 points ahead of United in the Premier League, but are a staggering £150 million behind them in the Money League.
The gaps from the top to the bottom of the Top 20 clubs are cavernous. Everton were the 20th ranked team with €199.2 million, considerably less than three times the revenue of the top three and less than half the revenue of the top 10.
Premier League clubs not surprisingly dominated the Top 20 with 10 clubs with Southampton and Leicester City benefitting from Europa League money. “Outside of the top 20, there are four more English clubs ranked 21 – 30, with AFC Bournemouth in 28th place. The Cherries’ revenue of £136.8 million in 2016/17 is £135.7 million higher than their equivalent figure in the first ever Money League in 1996/97,” say the report authors.
Dan Jones, partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, said: “European football continues to flourish financially, with almost half a billion Euro of revenue growth for the top 20 Money League clubs …United’s ability to retain first position is all the more impressive against the backdrop of the weakened Pound against the Euro, and with both Real Madrid and FC Barcelona forecasting further revenue growth in 2017/18, the battle at the top will likely come down to on-pitch performance again next year. With all three clubs through to the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League, it may be as simple as the club that goes furthest in the competition will have the best chance of topping the Money League next year.”
Source: Deloittes
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734832561labto1734832561ofdlr1734832561owedi1734832561sni@n1734832561osloh1734832561cin.l1734832561uap1734832561