Manchester United have moved from fourth to second in the list of the world’s richest clubs and Barcelona has reached second place, as Real Madrid stayed top for the third straight year.
Deloitte’s Football Money League, which is based on revenues generated during 2006/07, was headed by United for eight years until the Spaniards deposed them.
Chelsea are fourth in Deloitte’s table, even though the Blues regularly make huge losses. Arsenal are fifth. In all, there are seven British clubs in the top 20.
Three of the four clubs that dropped out of the list were also British - Manchester City, Glasgow Rangers, and West Ham United.
And, looking ahead to next year’s report, the authors state that “2007/08 could see England providing half the Money League clubs”.
The list shows that the game’s riches continue to be monopolised by the same group of clubs, with only one change in the top 10 from the previous season.
Deloitte’s figures take into account income from ticket sales, merchandising and broadcasting contracts but do not include transfer revenues.
Between them, the collective revenue of the top 20 clubs - all European - grew by 11% to £2.5bn in 2006/07, the highest rate of growth since 2002/03.
The 5 first places of that League are ( in millions of £): Real Madrid 236.2, Manchester United 212.1, Barcelona 195.3, Chelsea 190.5 and Arsenal 177.6.
