United retain title of world's richest club
Manchester United retained the title of the richest soccer club in the world for the fourth year running with a turnover of 117 million pounds ($167 million), British accountants Deloitte and Touche said on Friday.
Manchester United retained the title of the richest soccer club in the world for the fourth year running with a turnover of 117 million pounds ($167 million), British accountants Deloitte and Touche said on Friday.
United and Real Madrid, which replaced Bayern Munich in second place, were the only two clubs to generate over 100 million pounds, in a top 20 with a combined income of 1.376 billion pounds -- an increase of 31 percent on last year.
Television income is now the main source of revenue, boosting in particular the Italian presence in the list. Seven Italian clubs made the top 20 led by AC Milan in fourth place with turnover of 89.7 million pounds.
Seven English clubs were included in the top 20 -- Chelsea, Arsenal, Leeds United, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Newcastle United, as well as Manchester United -- but most of their rankings slipped, with the exception of Leeds, who climbed to 13th from 17th after a 54 percent surge in turnover.
Three more English clubs, as well as Scotland's Celtic made up the 22nd to 25th places.
Stadium development was a key factor in English clubs' supremacy and the position of the premier league would advance further after next season, when television deals are taken into account, the report said.
"English stadia are far superior to European municipally-owned facilites and South America's crumbling revenues. Germany and Portugal, however, are hosting major tournaments which will spur stadium development," said Deloitte and Touche Sport's Gerry Boon in a statement on Friday.
The highest-ranked non-European club was Argentina's Boca Juniors in 31st place. It had a turnover of 33.2 million pounds.
The probable stock market flotations of Bayern Munich and Juventus -- in fifth place -- is likely to bolster their incomes in the near future and clubs across Europe are now more aware of the need for commercial development.
"English clubs are the most commercially developed in terms of the breadth of income streams from television, gate and commercial revenues, but the Rich List shows that the major European soccer brands will rise to the top," said Kevin Roberts, director of SportBusiness Group, who jointly produced the report.
"The giants of the game have their sights on European leadership and global exposure and this is why the big clubs will always score over their smaller competitors in the long-run," he said.
In the four years that Deloitte and Touche have been producing the rich list, 16 of the top 20 clubs are unchanged. Italy's Fiorentina and France's Olympique Marseille made debut appearances this year after good runs in the Champions League.