Deloitte Names Biggest Money Makers in World Soccer

No surprise really, that the two best Spanish teams with the two best players in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, top the money makers list. But I’d like to see the breakdown of revenue, what came from jersey sales and so on. Deloitte did say that 44 percent of earnings was from TV rights. Interesting to see Aston Villa coming in at number 20….

Real Madrid is the richest soccer team by sales for a sixth straight year, according to accountant Deloitte LLP. Manchester City climbed the most of the top 20 clubs and AS Roma dropped six places.

Real hosted last year’s Champions League final, helping boost sales through June 2010 by 9.3 percent to 438.6 million euros ($600 million), Deloitte said. Barcelona was the next- biggest earner as more broadcast revenue helped sales increase by 8.8 percent to 398.1 million euros.

Real Madrid and Barcelona lead the so-called “Money League” partly because Spanish clubs negotiate their own television rights deals, unlike teams in England’s Premier League. Manchester United was third in the list as sales rose 3 percent to 286.4 million pounds ($461 million), or 349.8 million euros.

Top 20 Clubs by 2009-10 revenue (millions of euros):

1. Real Madrid 438.6
2. Barcelona 398.1
3. Manchester Utd. 349.8
4. Bayern Munich 323.0
5. Arsenal 274.1
6. Chelsea 255.9
7. AC Milan 235.8
8. Liverpool 225.3
9. Inter Milan 224.8
10. Juventus 205.0
11. Manchester City 152.8
12. Tottenham 146.3
13. Hamburg 146.2
14. Lyon 146.1
15. Marseille 141.1
16. Schalke 139.8
17. Atletico Madrid 124.5
18. Roma 122.7
19. Stuttgart 114.8
20. Aston Villa 109.4

Source: Bloomberg