Barcelona overtakes Real Madrid on biggest earners’ list 

Real Madrid have lost its position in the highest-earning football clubs in the world to its Spanish League rival, Barcelona. This is the first time the latter would break the €800m revenue barrier and top the list, which is dominated by English clubs.

The 20 clubs that made the Deloitte Football Money League grossed a combined income of €9.3 billion (£8 billion) for the 2018-2019 season. This figure is an increase of 11% when compared to the previous year, 2018, which was €8.3 billion.

In the next few years, these clubs are expected to have a combined revenue that breaks the €10 billion revenue barrier. This projection is supported by the increasing interest in football.

The revenue was sourced from Commercial, Matchday and Broadcast rights to their matches. According to Deloitte, Broadcast rights accounted for 44% of the total revenue of the €9.3 billion, commercial accounted for 40% and Matchday grossed 16%.

How the clubs stand: The list was largely dominated by Premiership clubs. Containing the 20 biggest money-spinning clubs list are:

• Two Ligue-1 clubs;
• Three Spanish clubs;
• Three German clubs;
• Four Seria-A clubs; and
• Eight Premiership clubs.

Clubs with highest revenue  

• Barcelona top the 23rd money league with €841 million. This revenue generation by Barcelona makes the Catalan the first club to break the €800 million barrier. Barcelona was able to beat Real Madrid and Manchester United after taking advantage of its global brand to attract merchandising and licensing activities in-house.
• Real Madrid was second on the list with €757.3 million, still unable to surpass the €800 million barrier. Real Madrid’s drop could be attributed to the selling of Cristiano Ronaldo who left the Los Blancos to join Juventus. C. Ronaldo’s transfer contributed to Juventus’ revenue growth.
• Manchester United took the third spot with €711.5 million revenue. But its position is threatened by Manchester City and Liverpool which have enjoyed Champions League outings in recent years while Manchester United has been struggling to gain qualification to UCL. This is a contributing factor to its drop, and united has already reported that its revenue will drop by £85m next year.
• Bayern Munich maintained its fourth position with €660.1 million.
• Paris Saint-Germain overtook Manchester City with €635.9 million.

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• Manchester City generated €610.6 million.
• Liverpool, which has had much success in the UCL and currently the defending champion of the UCL, recorded €604.7 million.
• Tottenham Hotspur improved on the list by moving up two places. The EPL club recorded €521.11 million. The revenue was aided by its change of Stadium which resulted in increased seating capacity. Tottenham’s matchday revenue is projected to surpass €117 million (£100 million) for the first time next year due to its new 62,062 stadium.
• Chelsea dropped one spot after generating €513.1 million. Chelsea’s failure to make UCL could also have had an impact on its earnings even though the club won the Europa League.
• Juventus, however, had a revenue booster in C. Ronaldo, which resulted in the €459.7 million generated for the period under reveal. Juventus stepped up a spot on the list.
• Arsenal dropped two spots like Chelsea after grossing €445.6 million for the 2018/2019 season. The club has also been struggling to regain the UCL slot. This also affected their revenue.

• Borussia Dortmund neither dropped nor moved upward after generating €377.1 revenue.
• Atlético de Madrid also maintained this position with €367.6 million.
• FC Internazionale Milano (Inter Millan) was unmoved on the list after grossing €364.6 million.
• Schalke 04 moved a spot upward as the club recorded €324.8 million for the 2018/2019 season.
• AS Roma dropped a spot on the list after generating €231.0 million.
• Olympique Lyonnais was a different story, entering the top-20 list of money-spinning clubs for the first time after grossing €220.8 million.
• West Ham United climbed two spots on the money league table after grossing €216.4 million.
• Everton, another EPL club, dropped two spots to hit this position having recorded €213 million.
• SSC Napoli, another newcomer, entered the list with €207.4 million.