LONDON: Real Madrid is football’s biggest moneymaker for the 10th straight year, while Manchester United has risen to second in the rankings by maintaining its commercial growth during its worst-ever Premier League campaign.
In the Football Money League compiled by accountancy firm Deloitte, German champion Bayern Munich remained third but Barcelona dropped from second to fourth during its trophyless 2014.
In the 2013-2014 financial year, Real generated 549.5 million euros ($752 million on June 30). United brought in 433.2 million pounds ($740 million on June 30), which equated to 518 million euros during the financial year. The current exchange rate would put United top on 566 million euros.
Bayern generated 487.5 million euros, Barcelona 484.6 million euros and Paris Saint-Germain 474.2 million euros.
Overall, the revenue of the world’s top 20 clubs, which are all European and dominated by eight from the English Premier League, grew 14 percent year-on-year to 6.2 billion euros ($8.5 billion). The only team to feature from outside the major leagues – England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France – is Turkish champion Galatasaray at 18th with a turnover of 161.9 million euros.
Although Real missed out on the Spanish title in 2013-14, the team ended its 12-year wait to be crowned European champions for the 10th time in May.
But Real’s supremacy is being threatened by Manchester United, despite the 20-time English champions lacking any UEFA cash in its 2014-15 accounts after the failure to qualify for Europe during David Moyes’ ill-fated season in charge. There is a recovery under Louis van Gaal, with United fourth in the Premier League.
“Despite a poor on-pitch season in 2013-14, United’s commercial strategy of securing global and regional partners is delivering substantial growth,” Deloitte senior manager Austin Houlihan said. “Commercial revenue has grown 83 percent in the last three years.
The growth in the value of Premier League television rights led to every team in the topflight reporting record revenue in 2013-14, Deloitte said. (Agencies)
