The ever increasing prize pot for UEFA Champions League participants continues to influence the Deloitte Football Money League, as evidenced in the latest report.
FC Barcelona top the annual report for the first time this year after generating revenue of €840.8m for the 2018/19 season, the first time a club has ever broken the €800m barrier.
Semi-finalists in last season’s Champions League, where they lost to eventual winners Liverpool, the Catalan club picked up €118m in broadcast money from UEFA – more than double that of the 2017/18 season. Their rise to the top is also being put down to the club taking charge of its own merchandising and licensing activities.
Overall, the top 20 clubs in the report earned a combined revenue of €9.3bn last season, with Real Madrid and Manchester United making up the top three positions and the only other clubs to reach revenue of over €600m.
Incredibly, the €83.5m gap between Barcelona and second placed Madrid is the biggest margin between sides in first and second in the report’s history.
Last year’s Champions League finalists, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, are placed seventh and eighth with earnings of €533m and €459.3m respectively. This year’s report marked Tottenham’s highest ever placing in the report, increasing their revenue by 21% on the previous season, and saw them placed as the highest club in London for the first time in over 20 years. The North London side are expected to maintain this positon in the coming years now that their new stadium is fully operational.
Only Olympique Lyonnais and SSC Napoli broke into the top 20 following the 2018/19 campaign; meanwhile Chelsea, Arsenal, West Ham United and Everton were the only sides in the top 20 not to play in last season’s Champions League, proving once again the sheer broadcasting power that the English Premier League possesses.
UCFB academic Chris Winn, who formerly co-wrote the Deloitte Football Money League, agrees that the ever increasing prize money in UEFA’s premier competition means the report will continue to be dominated by clubs competing in the competition.
He commented: “With such large rewards now on the line, it is clear to see why Deloitte expect a continuing correlation between Money League ranking and performance in the Champions League.”
Click here to read the full Deloitte Football Money League report.
