Spanish clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona continue their dominance over top richest clubs’ list for eighth consecutive year. Both these clubs are ahead by around 100m Euros to their third place holder Manchester United in the recently published Football Money League by an accountant firm Deloitte. Topping the list for eighth time brings La Liga club equal to Manchester United that headed the list for a similar term during initial first eight years of the money league, moreover it also became the only club in the world to cross half a billion mark. The list comprises top twenty clubs which have generated maximum revenues in financial year 2011-12. Interestingly, top six spots are still unchanged with their last year holders; they generated more than 23m Euro during the previous year. Both top position holders are always considered as arch rivals of each other on the field and on financial point of view also they are competing with each other.
Last year generally saw revenue growth for all top position holders except Manchester United which sustained a 3% drop in its revenue, while Madrid and Barcelona both surged their operational revenues by around 7%, and main contributor to their revenue surge is their high profile sponsorship deals in the past year. However, significant beneficiary of current list is Manchester City which jumped by five places to reach in the top ten clubs and this could happen by a heavy investment by its Abu Dhabi owner along with its mega million deal with Etihad Airways. Moreover, its last year’s first Champions League title win is also a reason for investor’s attraction in the club.
While nineteen clubs in top twenty’s list are same; they just replaced their position, 20th-place holder Newcastle is the new entrant to this mega rich club that substituted Valencia. The noticeable position holders are third place holder Manchester United and seventh place holder Manchester City who are taken as arch rivals similar to top two position holders. Talking about the growth of European clubs despite economic recession there, Dan Jones, the lead partner of the sports division at Deloitte said, “There is minimal economic growth in Europe yet football clubs are growing an average of 10 percent. An unchanged top six emphasizes the fact that these clubs have some of the largest fan bases and hence strongest revenues, in both domestic and international markets.”
Here is the complete top twenty riches’ list:
Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City, AC Milan, Liverpool, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan, Tottenham, Schalke, Napoli, Marseille, Lyon, Hamburg, AS Roma, Newcastle.