The world’s highest earning football clubs were released last week, with one or two surprises featuring amongst the list. Despite having the richest clubs in the world, Manchester United were the only English side to feature in the top five, although half of the top ten was comprised of Premier League clubs.
Article by Dean Carr of Sports, Bets and Tips.
Unsurprisingly top of the tree sat Spanish giants Real Madrid, who accumulated revenues last year of £439m, with the marketing geniuses that lie within the Bernabeu again proving their worth, keeping the club top of the list after a 3% increase on the previous year. The club have historically made a huge amount of money just from shirt sales alone, with the strategy of buying a team of ‘Galacticos’ debated on the field, it has certainly proved to be a worthwhile blueprint for the club’s bank balance. With global superstars such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez all at the club, fans from across the globe are all willing to pay £50+ for a shirt with their icons names featured on the back. It’s a policy which is difficult to argue given the financial rewards which come as a result. David Beckham signed for Real back in 2003, and the then England captain sold over a million shirts in his first twelve months at the club alone. It is now 11 years in succession that Madrid have featured top of the list, with their business model proving to be particularly effective.
Manchester United have slipped to third behind Barcelona, but remain the highest earning Premier League club. Deloitte are also backing United to finish as the top club next season, forecasting earnings of around £500m this season – that despite the club’s failure to progress through to the knockout stages of the Champions League. The £75m-a-year deal with Adidas along with the £53m-a-year- deal with Chevrolet has played a huge part in United’s earnings in the past year. On the results at United, Deloitte said “Despite a reduction in revenue year-on-year, the fact that Manchester United remain in the top three of the Money League demonstrates the underlying strength of the club’s business model.”
Football stadium top perspective
PSG have risen to fourth in the rankings with £363m rising above Bayern Munich who have surprisingly have dropped two places to fifth, with £358m. Roughly 55% of PSG’s revenue is made commercially, whilst only 12% is made on matchdays, with the club boasting huge names at the club which are easily promotable. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is the biggest earner at the club, and shares a deal with Nike – the same company who manufacture the French side’s kits – and is a commercial dream for the club. Bayern meanwhile have just 47% of their revenue made from commercial money, with 19.9% coming from broadcasting money.
For the second year running, half of the top ten are made up of Premier League sides, with United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool all featuring in the top ten. The increasing television money being pumped into the Premier League is heavily reflected in the current readings, with that money only set to increase next season. Premier League clubs outside the elite are also benefitting hugely from the broadcasting deal being implemented into the league.
West Ham made just £3m less than Italian giants Inter Milan last season, reflecting the interest and huge demand currently surrounding the Premier League. The Hammers are joined by Everton, Newcastle and Tottenham in the top 20, in 18th, 17th and 12th respectively. Italian clubs have fared pretty poorly overall, with Juventus the only side in the top ten, with AC and Inter Milan both dropping two places each, whilst Napoli fell an astounding fourteen positions from last season, although Roma have rose eight places into 16th.
Elsewhere across Europe, Galatasaray fell out of the top 20, dropping three places to 21st, whilst Arsene Wenger can be happy with a small victory over Chelsea, climbing above their London rivals in 7th. Historically some of the biggest clubs in Europe such as Ajax, Hamburg and Benfica now feature outside of the top 30 altogether, with Premier League clubs Southampton, Crystal Palace and Leicester City all climbing above them, despite none of those sides’ current stints in the Premier League exceeding five years.
Astonishingly, the sixteen Premier League clubs who feature in the top 30 have earned more than the rest of the fourteen European superpowers have altogether. €4072m was made between the Premier League clubs, with €3,932m profit coming from the fourteen other sides, including Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
The updated list is a sign of the huge influence advertising and commercial deals are having in the world of football, and the one thing is definitely revealed: The Premier League is the place to be.
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Sources: realmadrid.com / manutd.com / psg.fr / whufc.com / sbat.com
Football and money
About the Author: Guilherme Neto
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