London – Real Madrid showed their financial might in once again being named the world’s richest football club, while Bayern Munich dropped to their lowest placing in nearly a decade, according to professional services company Deloitte.
Real had 577 million euros of revenue for the 2014-15 season, enabling them to top Deloitte’s 19th annual Football Money League survey, announced on Thursday, for the 11th consecutive year.
The Spanish giants’ revenue growth of 27.5 million euros from the previous year came mainly from increased matchday and commercial revenue.
In total, the revenue for the world’s 20 richest clubs rose eight per cent to 6.6 billion euros last as a record three teams topped the 500 million euros mark.
“The next significant milestone of 7 billion euros should be surpassed in the current 2015-16 season, with considerable further growth towards 8 billion euros in 2016-17,” Dan Jones, partner in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, said.
“This is remarkable growth given that six years ago the total was just under 4 billion euros.”
European and Spanish champions Barcelona jumped back up to second at 560.8 million euros ahead of Manchester United, who fall one spot to third at 519.5 million euros after failing to compete in the Champions League last season.
United’s return to Europe’s top club competition this season could propel them to the top of the rankings a year from now.
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“For United to still maintain their Money League top three position emphasizes the strength of their business model and, having regained their Champions League status for the 2015-16 season, there is a strong possibility the club will also regain the Money League’s top spot in next year’s edition,” the report said.
French champs Paris Saint-Germain are fourth at 480.4 million euros with Bayern Munich rounding out the top five at 474 million euros, the German champions’ lowest placing since the 2007-08 season.
“Bayern has traditionally earned a competitive advantage from its very strong German corporate market,” the report said.
“However, in 2014-15 for the first time six clubs recorded commercial revenues over 200 million euros and over the last three seasons, its biggest competitor clubs have grown commercial revenues at an average rate more than double that of Bayern Munich.”
Read also: Real Madrid still world’s most valuable team – Forbes
Premier League clubs Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool take up the next four places, followed by Italian champions Juventus. No new clubs entered the top 10 this year.
The top 20 clubs all come from the big five European leagues in England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France.
The Premier League’s lucrative broadcast deals continue to be profitable as a record nine English clubs rank in the top 20 of the survey and 17 are in the top 30.
“This is again testament to the phenomenal broadcast success of the English Premier League and the relative equality of its distributions, giving its non-Champions League clubs particularly a considerable competitive advantage internationally,” the report said.
Roma and West Ham United join the top 20 this season, replacing Napoli and Galatasaray. –Â DPA
