Real Madrid top Deloitte Money League as highest revenue-generating club

Commercial revenue emerged as a major income stream for clubs after pandemic

Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham celebrates scoring their first goal with Antonio Rudiger in the 2-1 Clasico win against Barcelona at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on October 28, 2023. Reuters

Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham, centre, celebrates with Antonio Rudiger, Vinicius Junior and Joselu after scoring his team's second goal. AFP

Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham scores their second goal. Reuters

Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham celebrates after scoring his team's second goal. AFP

Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham celebrates his second goal with teammate Luka Modric. EPA

Jude Bellingham scores Real Madrid's second goal. Reuters

Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham scores their first goal. Reuters

Barcelona's Ilkay Gundogan scores their first goal. Reuters

Barcelona's Ilkay Gundogan after scoring the opening goal. EPA

Barcelona's Ilkay Gundogan, centre, celebrates with Barcelona's Ferran Torres, left, and Barcelona's Gavi after scoring his side's opening goal. AP

La Liga giants Real Madrid emerged as the world's highest revenue-generating club for the 2022/23 season, according to the Deloitte Football Money League.

Commercial revenue became the largest income stream for teams in the last season. Real recorded an increase in revenue of €118 million over the previous year. The nearly 16 per cent growth was due to strong retail performance, higher stadium attendance and recovery of sponsorship income.

The Spanish club overtook Premier League heavyweights and treble winners Manchester City in the money list, with a total revenue of €831m ($907.78m), followed by City (€826m) and Paris Saint-Germain (€802m).

While Manchester City came in second spot, the club enjoyed its highest ever revenue for a season, thanks to their treble-winning campaign in which they won the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League, which boosted their broadcast and commercial revenues, according to the report.

A few Premier League clubs slipped in the rankings. Eintracht Frankfurt, Napoli and Olympique Marseille entered the top 20, edging out Leicester City, Leeds United – who were both relegated last season – and Everton.

Barcelona moved from seventh last year up to fourth, generating €800m, while Manchester United slipped one place to fifth, having made €746m.

"A high demand for live sport is pointing towards further growth for commercial and matchday revenues, in particular," said Tim Bridge, lead partner in Deloitte's Sports Business Group.

"As clubs appear to no longer be able to rely on exponential broadcast revenue growth, creating a more commercially focused business model will support them to achieve greater control over their financial stability."

Seventeen of the top 20 clubs reported a year-on-year increase in commercial revenue, with growth largely attributable to improved retail sales, revenue from non-matchday events and recovery of sponsorship income which had been impacted by the pandemic.

Top 20 revenue-generating football clubs for 2022/23

1. Real Madrid: €831 million

2. Manchester City: €826 million

3. Paris Saint-Germain: €802 million

4. Barcelona: €800 million

5. Manchester United: €746 million

6. Bayern Munich: €744 million

7. Liverpool: €683 million

8. Tottenham Hotspur: €631 million

9. Chelsea: €589 million

10. Arsenal: €532 million

11. Juventus: €432 million

12. Borussia Dortmund: €420 million

13. AC Milan: €385 million

14. Inter Milan: €379 million

15. Atletico Madrid: €364 million

16. Eintracht Frankfurt: €293 million

17. Newcastle United: €288 million

18. West Ham United: €275 million

19. Napoli: €267 million

20. Marseille: €258 million