Real Madrid tops richest football club list for seventh time

Real Madrid has topped the list for the world’s richest football club for the seventh year running, with revenues of €480m between 2010 and 2011, a report by Deloitte has said.

The Spanish team saw revenues grow by nine percent last year compared with their 2009-2010 figures, bringing them one step closer to matching Manchester United’s eight year record of holding the top spot, according to the Deloitte Football Money League.

Rival club Barcelona came second in the list, but is on track to catch up with Real next year given its shirt sponsorship deal with the Qatar Foundation -  valued at €30m per season - and its €3.5m prize for winning the Fifa World Cup, Deloitte said.

Another club whose revenues could surge in 2012-2013 due to Gulf funding is Manchester City, which was ranked 12th on the money league this time with an income of €169.6m. Despite dropping one place since last year, the team has already seen a 22 percent increase in revenues.

“The emergence of Manchester City within European club football’s elite, supported by heavy investment from the club’s Abu Dhabi based owners, and the participation in the Champions League in 2011/2012 means that the club looks set to break into the top ten from next year,” said the report.

Teams who made the top 10 included Manchester United, who came third, Bayern Munich, who came fourth, Arsenal ranked fifth, and Chelsea which came sixth. AC Milan was number seven, and Internazionale came in the eighth spot.

Whilst the top seven teams were exactly the same as the previous year, other teams shifted places. Aston Villa dropped off the list entirely, and Liverpool fell one place to number nine.

According to Deloitte, falls in revenues were largely due to poor match performances, which sparked a drop in ticket and merchandise sales.

Germany’s Schalke jumped six places to number 10 this year, but is likely to be replaced by Manchester City in the next league, the report said. New entries included Valencia and Napoli.