World's biggest-earning clubs:Manchester United have slipped to fourth in the table of the world's biggest-earning clubs. Having topped the list for eight successive years until last February, when they were overtaken by Real Madrid, the Premiership leaders find themselves trailing Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus.
United's income has shrunk over each of the past two seasons, according to the Football Money League released by the business advisory firm Deloitte. Its rich list puts United's revenue, based on information for the 2005-06 season, at €242.6 million. The figure the previous year was €246.4 million and 12 months earlier it stood at €259 million. Liverpool were the only other club in the top 10 whose income declined on a year ago.
"Manchester United didn't have a particularly great season on the pitch in 2005-06," said Alan Switzer, a senior consultant in the sports business group at Deloitte. "They got knocked out of the Champions League at the group stage and that was one of the main reasons (for the decline in revenue). English clubs in general haven't increased their revenue that much over the last couple of years because they are midway through the current TV deal.
"I think United will, with the Old Trafford expansion being properly on line for the whole season this year, plus the AIG sponsorship being about 50 per cent bigger than the previous Vodafone deal, start to grow that revenue organically. And then when you put on top of that the new TV deal from 2007-08 . . . we do expect them to bounce back."
Switzer pointed out United's figures are "understated" because they take the net rather than gross revenue from deals such as a merchandising tie-up with Nike. "United remain the most profitable club football operation in the world," said his colleague, Paul Rawnsley.
Eight English clubs feature in the money league's top 20, including Tottenham, Manchester City and West Ham. Italy contribute four clubs, Germany three, Spain two and Scotland, France and Portugal one each. Madrid and Barcelona hold the top two places. "Both those clubs benefit from doing individual TV deals, which means they generate more TV revenue than any of the English clubs," Switzer said. "There's a collective-versus-individual selling advantage which the two big Spanish clubs benefit from.
Football Money League
Position (previous) Club Revenue (€m)
1(1) Real Madrid 292.2
2(6) Barcelona 259.1
3(4) Juventus 251.2
4(2) Manchester United 242.6
5(3) AC Milan 238.7
6(5) Chelsea 221.0
7(9) Internazionale 206.6
8(7) Bayern Munich 204.7
9(10) Arsenal 192.4
10(8) Liverpool 176.0
