In a development that should surprise no one, international auditing firm Deloitte has released its Money League Report, an annual review of soccer finance, and Real Madrid and FC Barcelona are at the top of the pack.
Madrid led the pack for the seventh straight year, posting revenue growth of 41 million Euros to 480 million in 2010/11. That’s a growth of nine per cent over the previous year, and one more year in the top position means Los Blancos will match Manchester United’s record in the first eight years that Deloitte began accounting for these numbers.
FC Barcelona came in second place, posting revenue growth of 53 million Euros and driving its revenues beyond 450 million Euros, giving them a 13 per cent growth over the previous year’s revenues but still putting them 29 million Euros behind Madrid.
The report notes that the full impact of Barcelona’s sponsorship deal with the Qatar Foundation, which gives the organization the right to advertise on the front of their jerseys, came up to 30 million Euros a season and the club got an additional 3.5 million Euros for winning the FIFA Club World Cup.
Deloitte goes on to note that the clubs are closing in on revenues of 500 million Euros, and that each of their revenue has grown by up to 200 million Euros over the five years previous – a “remarkable achievement,” the auditors say.
Overall, the report notes that the top 20 money-earning clubs in soccer generated combined revenues of 4.4 billion Euros in 2010/2011, a three per cent increase over the previous year, adding this represents over a quarter of the total revenues of the European football market.
The clubs’ revenue has continued to grow despite difficult economic times, with the report noting that though the teams have had to adjust their approaches in certain areas, the strong bases of support they enjoy have allowed them to continue to attract corporate partners and thus buck any downward economic trends.
One of the biggest stories among the top 20 was that of Schalke 04 of the Bundesliga (German League), which hopped six spots to end up in the top ten for the first time. It’s the first time that a German club besides Bayern Munich has made the top ten since the 1996/1997 season, when Borussia Dortmund made it into the top tier.
Schalke’s placing pushed first-place Italian club Juventus out of the top ten, and their strong performance in the UEFA Champions League was credited with this achievement.
Also of note were English Premier League club Manchester City who, with their qualification for Champions League play in 2011/2012, are likely to knock Schalke back down the next time Money League is accounted for, since the latter didn’t qualify for Champions League play this year.
Three new entrants to the top twenty were Borussia Dortmund, Valencia and Napoli, knocking out Atletico de Madrid, Stuttgart and Aston Villa.
Dortmund’s placing in the top 20 was attributed largely to the team’s excellent season performance, which Deloitte said helped it generate a revenue increase of 30 million Euros. Napoli placed in the Money League for the first time after placing third in Serie A in 2010/2011 for its most successful league performance since Diego Maradona’s spell with the club.
In summary, while it’s encouraging to see that a team’s financial success is dependent largely on its play on the pitch, many of these teams have had to spend mad coin to get the players who’ve made them successful.
So rather than a case of successful clubs using on-pitch performance to make money, Deloitte has listed clubs that have had to spend money to make money… and lots of it.
The top ten were as follows:
1) Real Madrid (479.5M Euros);
2) FC Barcelona (450.7M Euros);
3) Manchester United (367M Euros);
4) Bayern Munich (321.4M Euros);
5) Arsenal (251.1M Euros);
6) Chelsea (249.8M Euros);
7) AC Milan (235.1M Euros);
8) Inter Milan (211.4M Euros);
9) Liverpool (203.3M Euros);
10) Schalke 04 (202.4M Euros)
