Spain’s Real Madrid retained the title of the world’s richest soccer club in the past year thanks to sponsorship and TV deals robust enough to endure a season without a major trophy, a study showed on Thursday.
Real’s revenue of 519 million euros ($704 million) put the club ahead of domestic rivals Barcelona in fiscal 2012/2013, with European champions Bayern Munich edging into third ahead of Manchester United, in the annual Football Money League compiled by accountants Deloitte.
Qatari-owned Paris St Germain (PSG), where former England captain David Beckham ended his career last year, underlined its emergence as a soccer power with an 81 percent rise in revenue to almost 400 million euros to claim fifth spot.
Revenue for the top 20 teams rose by 8 percent to 5.4 billion euros, Deloitte said, underlining the appeal of soccer to broadcasters and sponsors targeting mass consumer markets.
Real Madrid and Barcelona are two of the most consistently successful teams in Europe, fielding top players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi respectively.
The two clubs enjoy the financial advantage of being able to negotiate their own TV deals, rather than pooling TV rights income as teams in other major leagues have to do.
Yet Spain’s TV rights model and the country’s economic crisis have left many of its smaller clubs facing a struggle to survive and demanding a bigger share of cash from broadcasters.
Speaking to Reuters this week, Barcelona Vice President Carles Vilarrubi said only the bigger teams could deliver the kind of viewing figures TV companies demand.
“It’s a question of balance because people want to watch Barca and Real Madrid and PSG and Bayern Munich games,” Vilarrubi said.
“We should equalise a little bit the income of the clubs but at the same time we should consider that the TV channels need to offer the games that people want to watch.”
FOOTBALL MONEY LEAGUE TOP 20 – Revenue in 2012-13 (million euros)
1. Real Madrid (Spain) 519
2. Barcelona (Spain) 483
3. Bayern Munich (Germany) 431
4. Manchester United (England) 424
5. Paris St Germain (France) 399
6. Manchester City (England) 316
7. Chelsea (England) 303
8. Arsenal (England) 284
9. Juventus (Italy) 272
10. AC Milan (Italy) 264
11. Borussia Dortmund (Germany) 256
12. Liverpool (England) 241
13. Schalke 04 (Germany) 198
14. Tottenham Hotspur (England) 172
15. Inter Milan (Italy) 169
16. Galatasaray (Turkey) 157
17. Hamburg SV (Germany) 135
18. Fenerbahce (Turkey) 126
19. As Roma (Italy) 124
20. Atletico Madrid (Spain) 120
Source: Supersport
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