Real Madrid replaces Manchester United as richest soccer club

World Cup 2006 to drive revenues of German clubs this year as Spanish giants Real Madrid clings on to big names like Beckham to power their revenues.

17 February 2006
MUMBAI, INDIA

Spanish football giants Real Madrid has toppled Manchester United as the richest football club, the Football Money League report published by consultants Deloitte said, thanks mainly to a star studded team which includes the likes of David Beckham.

Manchester United was the top football club in terms of revenue for the last eight consecutive years.

The Football Money League report said Real Madrid’s 275.7 million euro income (188 million pounds) for the 2004-05 season was a 17 per cent jump from the previous year.

Manchester United, with an income of 168 million pounds, was relegated to the second position.

The Deloitte report also said the revenues of the top 20 earning clubs crossed the 3 billion Euro mark for the first time.

In terms of revenue also, the Spanish Giants are leading the pack, earning £186.2million, which is about £20million above Man U, in 2004-05. But Man U’s earnings slid from £171.5million to £166.4million, mainly attributed to a string of poor performances on the field.

But analysts have warned against writing off Man U, citing that the club was still the most profitable. The said Man U will perform well next season due to the addition of 7,500 seats. Real Madrid on the other hand had relied more on big names to bolster their financial performance, but while that strategy worked, the team, which boasts of a line up including Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, and Ronaldo had some severe setbacks on the field.

So while merchandising and commercial ware raked in the money for the club due the global popularity of stars like Beckham, match and broadcasting revenues have not had the desired effect due to these high profile recruitments.

Italian football major A C Milan came third after Real and Man U, with 234 milion euros, followed by Real’s Spanish rivals Juventus, who reported a seven per cent jump in revenues, despite a low average stadium turnout of viewers. Juventus, in fact, had the lowest stadium turnout among the top 20 clubs in the Deloitte list.

Chelsea’s ranking dropped a place to fifth registering a revenue of 220.8 million. Chelsea was one of the biggest success stories in terms of revenue previous year.
The club had been controversially taken over by Russion oil tycoon Roman Abramovich in July, 2003 .

Spanish heavyweights Barcelona registered a 23 per cent increase in revenue to finish sixth in the list, despite showing a fierce aversion to lucrative shirt sponsorship deals.

Germany’s Bayern Munich (189.5 million euros), Liverpool (181.2) of England, Italy’s Inter Milan (177.2) and England’s Arsenal (171.3) filled up the following slots in the top ten list.

Analysts said the Deloitte report clearly indicates a resurgence in French and German clubs’ financials, giving a stiff competition to their English and Italian peers.
The report also foresees the World Cup 2006 in Germany, which starts on June 9, 2006, driving the German clubs’ fortunes.

It said match day and non-match day income will surge for these clubs mainly due to the new football infrastructure in place in Germany for the world cub. Germans have spent almost 2 billion euros for stadiums in the run-up to the world cup campaign.