LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Real Madrid have retained then title of richest club in world football while European champions Barcelona have jumped into second place as the Spanish arch-rivals topped the list of the game's big earners.
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| WORLD'S RICHEST CLUBS |
1 Real Madrid €292.2million
2 Barcelona 259.1
3 Juventus 251.2
4 Manchester United 242.6
5 AC Milan 238.7
6 Chelsea 221.0
7 Inter Milan 206.6
8 Bayern Munich 204.7
9 Arsenal 192.4
10 Liverpool 176.0
11 Olympique Lyon 127.7
12 AS Roma 127.0
13 Newcastle United 124.3
14 Schalke 04 122.9
15 Tottenham Hotspur 107.2
16 Hamburg SV 101.8
17 Manchester City 89.4
18 Rangers 88.5
19 West Ham United 86.9
20 Benfica 85.1
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The Football Money League report published by consultants Deloitte on Thursday showed combined revenues from the top 20 earners hit €3.5 billion boosted by TV and sponsorship deals and was again made up entirely of European
clubs.
Real's income of €292.2 million for the 2005-06 season
meant the club generated over €30 million more than Barca
but the Catalan side's 25 percent revenue growth in the last 12
months dwarfed Madrid's pedestrian six percent increase.
'Barcelona has undergone a remarkable transformation in
recent seasons, doubling their revenue since 2002/03,' said
Deloitte partner Dan Jones.
While on the pitch success accounted for Barcelona's
increased wealth, much of Real's success was put down to the
global appeal of players like David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane and
Ronaldo as the Madrid club marketed its Galacticos in Asia and
to lucrative corporate sponsors.
The influence of those former internationals has waned
however since Zidane has retired, Ronaldo has joined AC Milan
and Beckham has been dropped after signing a £125million
five-year deal to join MLS club LA Galaxy next season.
'The two clubs (Real and Barca) have had contrasting
strategies, with Real focusing on driving commercial revenue
from recruiting its Galactico players and Barcelona having a
more balanced revenue profile,' said Jones.
Manchester United, who topped the rich list every year until
2004/05, slipped into fourth place behind Italy's disgraced
Juventus, partly as the English side failed to make it into the
lucrative Champions League knockout phase.
The remaining top 10 places were filled by AC Milan (€238.7
million), Chelsea (221), Inter Milan (206.6), Bayern
Munich (204.7), Arsenal (192.4) and Liverpool (176).
With a wave of big money TV deals about to kick in across
Europe, Deloitte said media agreements would continue to drive
up clubs' revenues and pinpointed English teams as the biggest
likely beneficiaries after the latest round of bonanza deals.
'It is the rising value of broadcast rights to top-tier
domestic leagues that has underpinned overall revenue growth.
'The Premier League's recently concluded broadcasting deals
may see English teams contribute half of the top 20 clubs in
2007/08,' they added.
The report warned, though, that spiralling television deals
would be unsustainable if media firms decide they will no longer
fork out hundreds of millions for the right to screen matches.
It said Italian clubs could also suffer if the government
forces clubs to share TV cash rather than negotiate individual
deals with broadcasters.
