Deloitte’s Sports Business Group has released the 27th edition of its Deloitte Football Money League. The report reveals the 20 highest-revenue-generating football clubs globally for the 2022/23 season. Real Madrid generated record revenues of €831 million, representing an increase of €118 million compared with the previous year, and knocked Manchester City off the top spot of the Money League.
Real Madrid is returning to the top of the ranking for the first time since the 2017/18 season. Real Madrid’s growth was primarily attributed to strong retail performance and higher stadium attendance. Manchester City fell to second place “despite a record-breaking 2022/23 season both on and off the pitch.” Indeed, the Premier League club posted its highest ever revenues for a season (€826m), driven by its successes in both the UEFA Champions League and the Premier League, which raised its broadcast and commercial revenues by €50 million and €26 million, respectively.
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) broke into the top three for the first time in Money League history, with revenues of €802 million, followed by FC Barcelona in the fourth position (€800m), up from the seventh in the previous report, and then Manchester United (€746m) in fifth. Liverpool posted revenues of €683 million and reported the greatest fall in year-on-year rankings, moving from third to seventh. The decline was attributed to a downturn in on-pitch results in both domestic and European competitions. Liverpool was one of three Money League clubs to experience a drop in revenues, alongside Atlético de Madrid and West Ham United. Among the other notable changes, SSC Napoli reported an 80 percent increase in broadcast revenues after winning its first Scudetto since 1989/90.
Commercials largest income stream
The 20 highest-revenue-generating football clubs in the world earned a combined, record-breaking €10.5 billion in the 2022/23 season, a 14 percent increase over the previous season, driven by record commercial and matchday revenues of €4.4 billion and €1.9 billion, respectively. Commercial revenues were the largest income stream for Money League clubs for the first time since the 2015/16 season, excluding the 2019/20 season (impacted by the Covid-19 crisis). Growth in commercial revenues was primarily attributed to improved retail sales, revenues from non-matchday events and recovery of sponsorship income, which had dropped during the pandemic.
Matchday revenues benefitted from the full-capacity reopening of stadiums across continental Europe. In contrast, broadcast revenues increased by “a modest 5 percent,” says the report, as growth was partly limited by the 2022/23 season’s falling within existing domestic broadcast cycles.
Overall, Money League clubs reported average revenues of over €500 million, with commercial and broadcast revenues contributing similar amounts of €222 million (42 percent) and €213 million (40 percent) respectively, followed by matchday revenues of €92 million (18 percent).
Women’s club increased revenues by 61%
The report also includes the analysis of 15 of the highest-revenue-generating women’s clubs in European football. The revenues of women’s football clubs in other key markets, like the US, Australia, Japan, Norway and Sweden, were not made available to Deloitte and could not be included in the analysis, explains the consulting firm.
Among women’s clubs, FC Barcelona Femení retained the top spot in the 2022/23 season. The Spanish club reported €13.4 million in revenues, representing a year-on-year increase of 74 percent. Manchester United Women also retained its place, in second, with revenues of €8 million, driven by a strong commercial performance. Real Madrid Femenino rose to third place, as it reported €7.4 million in revenues, a year-on-year increase of 416 percent. Manchester City Women took the fourth position with €5.3 million in revenues and a year-on-year increase of 5 percent, followed by Arsenal Women in fifth with revenues of €5.3 million and a 138 percent revenue increase year-on-year. Arsenal Women posted the highest matchday revenues (€3.1 million, 58 percent of its total revenues) of the 15 clubs in the report.
The average revenue for the 15 women’s clubs in Deloitte’s report stood at €4.3 million, a 61 percent increase over their 2021/22 average of €2.6 million. For 14 of these clubs, commercial revenues accounted for 58 percent of total revenues, followed by matchday (22 percent) and broadcast (20 percent). The matchday, broadcast and commercial split excludes Paris Saint-Germain Féminine, because, as Deloitte explains, the club did not provide a split.
Although the Money League has historically consisted of European clubs, there may be challenges to this hegemony in the near term, the report indicates, notably from clubs in the US and Brazil. Inter Miami reported a significant revenue increase following the signing of Lionel Messi in 2023, while the Brazilian club of Flamengo knocked on the door of this year’s top 30, says the report.
The full findings of the Deloitte Football Money League 2024 can be reviewed on Deloitte’s website.
