Real Madrid knock Manchester City off top spot in Deloitte Football Money League
Real Madrid have overtaken Manchester City and regained the title of the world’s richest football club, according to Deloitte’s latest Football Money League.
The Spanish giants reported record revenue of €831m (£723m) for the 2022-23 season, an increase of €118m on the previous year.
That was enough to pip last year’s No1 club Manchester City, despite the English champions also achieving record income of €826m (£718m) as they won a historic treble.
Paris Saint-Germain gatecrashed the top three of the annual ranking for the first time after strong commercial performance boosted their revenue to €802m (£697m).
Barcelona bounced back from seventh place to fourth with turnover of €800m (£696m), an increase of €162m which was driven by record takings from licensing and merchandising.
Manchester United, who topped the Football Money League in 10 of 26 previous editions, slipped to fifth despite seeing revenue increase to €746m (£649m).
Liverpool also dropped from third to seventh, placing them behind Bayern Munich, after a slight fall in turnover to €683m (£594m) as on-field results declined.
Tottenham Hotspur (€632m/£549m) overtook Chelsea (€589m/£513m) to go eighth, while Arsenal (€533m/£463m) made it six Premier League teams in the top 10.
Newcastle United (€288m/£250m) and West Ham United (€275m/£239m) placed 17th and 18th respectively in the ranking of the world’s richest football clubs.
Real Madrid’s return to top spot for the first time in five years underlines their success in growing their sponsorship and retail business while broadcast income has plateaued.
“Real Madrid have really turned on the accelerator in respect to commercial revenues,” Chris Wood, assistant director in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, told Morning Wire
“A big focus for all kinds of large European clubs at the minute is diversification of revenue streams. We’re no longer able to sort of rely on the relentless material increases in broadcast cycles as maybe clubs have gotten used to in the past.
“Clubs are now having to get a bit more creative in terms of how they generate more revenue from the things that they can control.”
World’s richest football clubs see double digit revenue growth
The top 20 clubs had record combined revenues of €10.5bn, an increase of 14 per cent on 2021-22, driven by matchday and commercial income reaching new heights.
“Another record-breaking year for Money League clubs represents the ongoing financial might of the football industry,” said Tim Bridge, lead partner in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group.
“A high demand for live sport is pointing towards further growth for commercial and matchday revenues, in particular.
“As clubs appear to no longer be able to rely on exponential broadcast revenue growth, creating a more commercially focused business model will support them to achieve greater control over their financial stability.
“This may include developing new merchandise, or non-match day events such as concerts to create new commercial offerings.”
Barcelona and Real Madrid dominate women’s rankings too
Barcelona top the ranking of women’s clubs by some distance after reporting revenue of €13.4m (£11.6m). Second-placed Manchester United had income of €8m (£7m).
Real Madrid (€7.4m/£6.5m) were third, followed by English trio Manchester City, Arsenal (both €5.3m/£4.6m) and Women’s Super League champions Chelsea (€4.1m/£3.5m).
Women’s football should be viewed as “in its infancy as a fast-growth business”, said Wood, but “it will take some time before it becomes a break-even business”.