Real Madrid, Barcelona top football's money list
The Associated Press | Thu, 02/10/2011 7:38 AM
Real Madrid and Barcelona are world football's
biggest moneymakers for the second successive year as the combined
revenues of Europe's top 20 clubs exceeded euro4 billion ($5.5 billion)
for the first time.
The annual review of football finance by British accountancy firm
Deloitte, showed that Madrid generated euro438.6 million in the year to
June 30, 2010, representing an annual increase of 20 percent as the
team retained top spot for the sixth straight year.
Barcelona, which beat Madrid to the Spanish title last year and
won the FIFA Club World Cup, saw a more modest revenue increase of
just under 10 percent to euro398.1.
The Spanish rivals' supremacy is helped by the uneven
distribution of broadcasting rights from domestic competitions.
The top six teams remained unchanged from the 2010 rankings, with
Real Madrid and Barcelona followed by Manchester United, Bayern
Munich, Arsenal and Chelsea.
The biggest mover in the top 20 was Manchester City, as the
Premier League's wealthiest team climbed nine places to 11th with a
44 percent revenue increase to a club record 125 million pounds
(euro153m).
Premier League rival Liverpool fell one place to eighth after
dropping out of the Champions League places and finishing seventh
last season.
"All bar three of the top 20 clubs achieved revenue growth
during 2009/10, demonstrating the continued resilience of football's
top clubs as the full impact of the global economic downturn took
hold," said Dan Jones of the Deloitte sports business group. "The
game's top clubs have proved themselves well-placed to meet these
economic challenges given their large and loyal supporter bases,
ability to drive broadcast audiences, and continuing attraction to
corporate partners."
The combined income generated by the top-20 clubs rose to euro4.3
billion - up 8 percent on the previous year. Deloitte said that 44
percent of that total - euro1.9 billion - comes from the sale of
broadcast rights.
Fourteen of the to 20 clubs participated in the Champions League
and the remainder competed in the Europa League.
