Manchester City have slipped to second place in Deloitte’s latest Football Money League, with Manchester United and Liverpool also tumbling down the list.
Despite posting a record revenue of £718.2 million, Pep Guardiola’s treble-winning side were overtaken by Real Madrid. The Spanish giants lead the way with £723 million in revenue.
Although Real president Florentino Perez is one of the biggest backers of the proposed European Super League, the La Liga club are clearly doing okay under the current system.
This year’s table shows the continental clubs are bridging the gap to the Premier League.
Real Madrid have taken top spot from Manchester City, while Bayern made more commercial revenue than anyone (€419m).
The top 20 teams' revenues amounted to €10.5billion in 2022-23, a 14% jump from 2021-22.@PJBuckingham analyses the Deloitte Football Money League ⬇️
— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) January 25, 2024
What Is The Deloitte Football Money League?
The Deloitte Football Money League is a yearly analysis of the top revenue-generating clubs in football. Now in it’s 27th year, the Money League is a great indicator of how a club is performing financially.
Deloitte measure revenue by commercial, broadcast and match day income, showing a breakdown of each. The publication remains the industry’s most reliable independent assessor.
This year, the top 20 clubs recorded combined revenue in excess of €10 billion for the first time. At €10.5 billion, 2022/23 saw a 14% increase on last year.
The Money League looks at reported club revenue figures in annual accounts, and does not measure against operating costs.
Biggest Winners And Losers In This Year’s Money League
Paris Saint-Germain entered the top three for the first time, followed by Barcelona in fourth. Manchester United fell one place to fifth, despite increasing their revenue compared to last year.
Tottenham and Chelsea switches placed in eighth and ninth, making Spurs now the highest-revenue club in London. Their increased revenue is partly due to hosting NFL London games at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Meanwhile, Spurs’ neighbours Arsenal held on to tenth spot, with Newcastle in 17th and West Ham 18th. But the biggest fallers of any top 20 club were Liverpool.
Jurgen Klopp’s Reds might be top of the Premier League at the time of writing, but have dropped four places in the Money League. Their revenue decreased from £594.3 million to £593.8 million.
Deloitte believe Liverpool’s lack of Champions League football this season is to blame for their drop off.
Barcelona Femeni were the top-earning women’s side in world football, increasing revenue by 74% to £11.6m.
Tim Bridge, Deloitte’s Sports Business Group’s lead partner, highlighted the improvements made by La Liga clubs.
He told the Daily Mail: “There is a point in time, a moment here, where you’ve got Real Madrid and Barcelona redeveloping their stadiums.
“They have made moves towards controlling much more of their operations, particularly merchandising and licensing, so those revenue figures are a result of direct changes they have made to their business model.
“When we look at the Premier League holistically we’re not 100 per cent certain the days of significant domestic growth in media rights is over, but what we can say is, without significant competition coming into that market, then single-figure percentage growth is the likely outcome in that domestic market.
Bridge added: “Therefore the focus is on what can be done in the international market.
“What has always underpinned the fact there have been 10 or 11 Premier League clubs in the Money League has been that the media rights growth has given them significant distributions.
“Other leagues have caught up and there has been a slight plateauing of Premier League rights.”
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