Manchester United tops Deloitte rankings as world’s highest earning football club
The club topped the list for the second year running, beating out Real Madrid by only €1.7m – the narrowest ever margin between the top two spots
Deloitte’s top 20 Money League club rankings show Manchester United retaining the top spot as highest revenue generating football club in the world, with €676.3m (£581m) earned in 2016/2017.
The club topped the list for the second year running, beating out Real Madrid by only €1.7m – the narrowest ever margin between the top two spots.
The rest of the top five was completed by FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City.
The cumulative revenue of the top 20 football clubs in the world was a record €7.9bn (£6.bn) in 2016/2017, a rise of 6%, according to annual football Money League report.
United’s UEFA Europa League victory netted the club €44.5m, proving to be a critical factor in reaching the top of the list. This is the tenth time the club has taken the top spot.
Dan Jones, partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, commented: “United’s ability to retain first position is all the more impressive against the backdrop of the weakened pound against the euro.”
Despite the weakened pound, Premier League teams dominated the top 20, contributing a record 10 teams to the list.
Tim Bridge, senior manager in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, said: “The Deloitte Football Money League has a particularly English feel this year and with the new broadcast deal and UEFA competition performance driving broadcast revenue growth of over half a billion pounds for those in the top 20, it doesn’t come as a surprise.”
Broadcast revenue played an increasingly important role in 2016/2017, making up 45% of total revenue.
Football proves to be an increasingly lucrative industry, with the lowest listed revenue on the top 20 list being just under €200m – almost double the threshold of revenue required to make the list in 2010.
Looking ahead, Bridge suggests future rankings will be impacted by structural changes in the industry, explaining: “With the added element of changes to the qualification structure for the Champions League, it is likely that we’ll see some re-ordering of the clubs in years to come.”
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The new Champions League format will come into force in 2018/2019, and new Premier League domestic and international broadcast rights agreements commencing in 2019/2020 are also likely to impact.