Real Madrid regain place as highest-earning club in world football

Real Madrid have regained their place as the highest-earning club in world football in the latest edition of the Deloitte Football Money League.

The Blancos generated €750.9 million in revenue in the 2017-18 season, a new record, and were followed by rivals Barcelona (€690.4m) and Manchester United (€666m) in the rankings. 

United slipped from their top spot last season to third position, while Madrid and Barcelona each moved up one spot. 

It is the 12th time that Madrid have topped the rankings, and the first time since the 2014-15 season. 

The Deloitte Football Money League, now in its 22nd edition, ranks the top 20 clubs by revenue in world football.

Though two La Liga teams top the rankings, the top 10 is dominated by English sides, with six of the 10 teams coming from the Premier League. It is the most teams ever in the top 10 from a single country. 

Deloitte says that if the Premier League is to continue its dominance of the rankings in future seasons, it must rely more on commerical revenue and less on broadcast. 

“The substantial presence of Premier League clubs continues to be felt in this year’s Deloitte Football Money League," Sam Boor, senior manager in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, said.

"However, with the Premier League’s tender for the next cycle of domestic rights from 2019-20 complete and sale of overseas rights nearing conclusion, it is clear that Premier League clubs will be unable to rely on explosive growth in broadcast distributions as a source of future growth, as has been the case in recent years. 

“As a result, we expect an even greater emphasis among these clubs on generating their own growth in the coming season, and in particular the optimisation of commercial revenue, which has been a key area for differentiating growth across most of Europe’s leading clubs in recent years.”

Overall, the 20 clubs in the rankings raked in €8.3bn combined last season, a new record. Broadcast revenue remains the largest individual income stream, making up 43 per cent of total revenue.

“European football remains a bull market, with annual revenue growth of almost €450 million in this year’s Football Money League," Dan Jones, a partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte said.

"At the top, we have seen Real Madrid shatter records, becoming the first club to break the three-quarters of a billion euro mark and claim a record 12th Money League title in the process.” 

Nine of the 20 teams in the rankings are from the Premier League, while four of the teams hail from Italy, three from Spain, three from Germany, and one from France.

Full Deloitte Football Money League rankings