Football

Real Madrid knock Man United off top of rich list

January 25, 2019 11:30 am

Real Madrid has topped the table of the world’s 20 richest football clubs, displacing Manchester United with record revenues of €750.9m (£674.6m).

Man Utd slipped to third with Barcelona making it the first Spanish one-two since 2014-15, said Deloitte.

Its Football Money League, based on season 2017-18, also shows the combined revenues of the top 20 clubs has risen 6% to €8.3bn (£7.4bn), a new record.

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There were a record six English Premier League clubs in the top 10.

‘Outstanding performance’

The list, the 22nd of its kind, only looks at revenues and does not take into account club debts.

This gap this year between the top two places was the second widest yet, with €60.5m between the leading pair.

Real Madrid won their third successive Champions League, beating Liverpool 3-1 in Kiev last May.

That helped raise income for Los Blancos, who have now topped Deloitte’s money league 12 times.

“The substantial presence of Premier League clubs continues to be felt in this year’s Deloitte Football Money League,” said Deloitte’s Sam Boor.

“However, with the Premier League’s tender for the next cycle of domestic rights from 2019-20 complete and sale of overseas rights nearing conclusion, it is clear that Premier League clubs will be unable to rely on explosive growth in broadcast distributions as a source of future growth, as has been the case in recent years,

“As a result, we expect an even greater emphasis among these clubs on generating their own growth in the coming season, and in particular the optimisation of commercial revenue, which has been a key area for differentiating growth across most of Europe’s leading clubs in recent years.”