Thursday, February 12, 2009
Real Madrid, Manchester United Top Richest Soccer Clubs
Manchester United have come second in the list of the world's richest clubs, while Real Madrid stay top for the fourth year in a row.
Deloitte's Football Money League, based on financial information for the 2007/08 season, features seven English clubs in the top 20 positions.
The authors said that United would have been top of the Money League if the pound was still at June 2007 levels.
Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool are fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.
Exchange rate factor
"If the exchange rate value of the pound had not depreciated, there would have been nine, rather than seven English clubs in the top 20 and Manchester United would have topped the Money League ahead of Real Madrid," said Dan Jones, partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte.
United won the English Premier League and UEFA Champions League in 2008, posting a significant 21% pound-denominated revenue growth. Real Madrid posted only a 4% revenue increase.
WORLD'S WEALTHIEST CLUBS BY REVENUE
1) Real Madrid: $414.02m
2) Man Utd: $367.49m
3) Barcelona: $349.32m
4) Bayern Munich: $334.15m
5) Chelsea: $304.28m
6) Arsenal: $299.13m
7) Liverpool: $238.68m
8) AC Milan: $236.88m
9) AS Roma: $198.45m
10) Inter Milan: $195.59m
Source: Deloitte: 2007/8