European champions Barcelona joined Real Madrid and Manchester United in earning over €500 million last season, financial consultants Deloitte revealed in their latest Football Money League published on Thursday.
Madrid topped the table for the 11th year running with earnings of €577 million over the course of the season, driven largely by a €22.7 million increase in commercial revenue.
But Real’s reign as the richest club in the world is about to come to an end due to the Premier League’s massive new TV deal according to Dan Jones, a partner at Deloitte:
‘Madrid will be under increasing pressure from Manchester United for the top spot in the Money League next season and in future years, due to the English club’s own commercial revenue exploits as well as a boost in 2016-17 from the Premier League broadcast deal.’
A Deloitte spokesman also said:
‘The return of Champions League football in 2015-16, despite having suffered from a disappointing exit from the group stage, plus the commencement of the adidas partnership, should help United to top next year’s Money League with the club forecasting revenues of around £500m.’
The amount of money that Premier League sides get from TV is changing the financial landscape in Europe. As a result of this, Deloitte are also estimating that the TV rights deal could, within the next two years, push all 20 Premier League clubs into their top 30 for the first time. Which is not a big reach as 17 of the Premier League clubs made the top-30 this year.
The spokesman added:
‘With over half of the top 30 already made up of Premier League clubs, and the staggering new Premier League domestic broadcast deal coming into effect in 2016-17, there is an outside chance that the Money League top 30 will feature all 20 Premier League clubs in two years’ time.’
Think about that for a second. The “smaller” clubs in the Premier League like Watford and Bournemouth will earn more than a lot of the Champions League qualifiers in the top European leagues. That means that the Premier League sides will have their pick of players across Europe, as only the really big clubs like Barca, Bayern, PSG, Real and Bayern will be able to compete with them financially.
Combined revenue for the top 20 clubs in the list rose eight percent to 6.6 billion euros — a new record.
German champions Bayern Munich fell to fifth, their lowest placing since 2006-07, with Qatar-backed French champions Paris Saint-Germain overtaking them following another year of growth.
Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool, from the all-powerful English Premier League, round out the top 10 along with beaten Champions League finalists Juventus.
Juventus were joined in the top 20 by Serie A counterparts Roma, who climbed from 24th to 16th, but Italian heavyweights AC Milan and Inter Milan slipped to 14th and 19th respectively.
Top 20 clubs in Deloitte Football Money League 2014-15 (2013-14 position and revenue in brackets; figures in millions of euros):
1. (1) Real Madrid (ESP) 577 (549.5)
2. (4) Barcelona (ESP) 560.8 (484.8)
3. (2) Manchester United (ENG) 519.5 (518)
4. (5) Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) 480.8 (471.3)
5. (3) Bayern Munich (GER) 474 (487.5)
6. (6) Manchester City (ENG) 463.5 (416.5)
7. (8) Arsenal (ENG) 435.5 (359.3)
8. (7) Chelsea (ENG) 420 (387.9)
9. (9) Liverpool (ENG) 391.8 (305.9)
10. (10) Juventus (ITA) 323.9 (279)
11. (11) Borussia Dortmund (GER) 280.6 (261.5)
12. (13) Tottenham Hotspur (ENG) 257.5 (215.5)
13. (14) Schalke 04 (GER) 219.7 (214)
14. (12) AC Milan (ITA) 199.1 (249.7)
15. (15) Atletico Madrid 187.1 (169.9)
16. (new) AS Roma (ITA) 180.4 (127.4)
17. (19) Newcastle United (ENG) 169.3 (155.1)
18. (20) Everton 165.1 (ENG) (144.1)
19. (17) Inter Milan (ITA) 164.8 (162.8)
20. (new) West Ham United (ENG) 160.9 (139.3)
