The wealthiest football clubs in the world

Three Spanish football teams, Real Madrid, F.C. Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid, rank among the highest 20 wealthiest football clubs in the world, according to the study “Football Money League: Rising stars” conducted by Deloitte. The study analyses the financial information of the clubs in the 2016/17 season.

Manchester United (UK) leads the ranking with a revenue of €676.3 million, that is, €1.7 million up from Real Madrid (Spain), ranking second on the list with €674.6 million. Never before had this difference been so low between the two best teams on the list.

Real Madrid has surpassed its closest rival team in Spain, F.C. Barcelona, with a total revenue of €648.3 million. The fourth position goes to Bayern Munich (Germany), with €587.8 million, and the fifth position goes to the club from the city of Manchester, Manchester City (UK), with €527.7 million.

Among the 20 clubs with the highest revenue is Atlético de Madrid, thirteenth on the list with €272.5 million.

This study analyses three basic concepts: the clubs’ capacity to generate revenue with match-related activities (e.g. tickets), the broadcasting rights (both of national leagues and European competitions) and commercial activities (sponsoring, merchandising, stadium tours and other activities).

At the top 20th position on the list appears for the first time Southampton FC (UK) thanks to revenue deriving from broadcasting rights. Everton (UK) and Napoli (Italy) have ranked once again among the 20 clubs with the highest revenue.

The overall revenue generated by the 20 best clubs in this ranking amounts to €7,900 million, 6% over last year’s overall revenue, and twice the amount from a decade ago, at €3,900 million.