Tuesday 26 January 2021 10:26 am  |  Updated:  Tuesday 26 January 2021 10:30 am

World’s richest football clubs 2021: Barcelona top Deloitte Football Money League ahead of Real Madrid while Bayern Munich overtake Manchester United

By: Frank Dalleres

Sports Editor

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Barcelona have retained their status as the world’s richest football club, according to Deloitte’s latest Football Money League.

Barca remained fractionally ahead of fellow Spanish giants Real Madrid despite their revenue falling by €125m to €715.1m in 2019-20.

European champions Bayern Munich climbed to third ahead of Manchester United, the highest placed English team in the annual rich list, which is published today.

Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur are also in the top 10. Arsenal remain 11th and Everton are 17th.

Almost all of the 20 teams in the ranking, which is based on revenue, saw their income fall due to Covid-19. The collective revenue of the world’s richest football clubs dropped by €1.1bn year on year to €8.2bn.

DELOITTE 2021 FOOTBALL MONEY LEAGUE: THE WORLD’S RICHEST FOOTBALL CLUBS

Click on the club badge for revenue breakdowns and further details.

Barcelona

Barcelona retained top spot by just €200,000 from bitter domestic rivals Real Madrid. Having earned a record sum in 2018-19, Barca’s revenue plummeted by €125m in 19-20.

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Matchday Revenue: €126.4m
Broadcasting Revenue: €248.5m
Commercial Revenue: €340.2m

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Total Revenue: €715.1m

Real Madrid

Real Madrid earned only fractionally less than Barcelona after their income shrank by a relatively meagre €42m. Spain’s big two remain a cut above in the revenue-generating stakes.

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Matchday Revenue: €108.2m
Broadcasting Revenue: €224.0m
Commercial Revenue: €382.7m

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Total Revenue: €714.9m

Bayern Munich

European champions Bayern Munich’s revenue fell just €26m as German clubs benefited from finishing their season, thus realising TV payments, before the end of their financial year.

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Matchday Revenue: €70.3m
Broadcasting Revenue: €203.3m
Commercial Revenue: €360.5m

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Total Revenue: €634.1m

Manchester United

Covid-19’s impact on sport and the absence of Champions League football pushed Manchester United out of the top three earners. Revenue fell by €131m, the most of any club.

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Matchday Revenue: €98.8m
Broadcasting Revenue: €159.9m
Commercial Revenue: €321.7m

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Total Revenue: €580.4m

Liverpool

Liverpool climbed into the top five despite revenue falling by €46m. All Premier League clubs’ 2019-20 income suffered as a result of the pandemic delaying completion of the season.

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Matchday Revenue: €82.7m
Broadcasting Revenue: €232.5m
Commercial Revenue: €243.4m

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Total Revenue: €558.6m

Manchester City

Revenue fell by €61m but Manchester City remained the sixth richest club in the world. Like their Premier League rivals, a delayed end to the season dented their 2019-20 accounts.

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Matchday Revenue: €47.6m
Broadcasting Revenue: €217.0m
Commercial Revenue: €284.6m

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Total Revenue: €549.2m

Paris Saint-Germain

Paris Saint-Germain slipped two places as revenue fell by €95m. All French clubs lost significant matchday and TV income as a result of the Ligue 1 season being cancelled in April.

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Matchday Revenue: €92.4m
Broadcasting Revenue: €149.6m
Commercial Revenue: €298.6m

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Total Revenue: €540.6m

Chelsea

Chelsea climbed one place despite seeing revenue fall by €43m. Like all Premier League clubs, they lost matchday and TV income because Covid-19 delayed completion of the season.

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Matchday Revenue: €62.1m
Broadcasting Revenue: €208.2m
Commercial Revenue: €199.4m

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Total Revenue: €469.7m

Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham slipped a place as their revenue fell by €75m. Their drop was particularly marked after record earnings in 2018-19, while closed stadia dented valuable matchday income.

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Matchday Revenue: €107.7m
Broadcasting Revenue: €155.0m
Commercial Revenue: €183.0m

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Total Revenue: €445.7m

Juventus

Juventus are the highest-placed of three Italian clubs in the top 20 but only scrape into the top 10. Revenue dropped €62m as Covid-19 delayed the completion of the Serie A season.

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Matchday Revenue: €42.3m
Broadcasting Revenue: €166.7m
Commercial Revenue: €188.9m

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Total Revenue: €397.9m

Arsenal

Arsenal saw revenue fall by €57m but remained in touching distance of the top 10. Like neighbours Tottenham, they suffered the financial effects of empty stadia more than most.

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Matchday Revenue: €89.7m
Broadcasting Revenue: €136.0m
Commercial Revenue: €162.3m

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Total Revenue: €388.0m

Borussia Dortmund

Dortmund made up ground on non-German clubs as their revenue only fell by €6m. The completion of the Bundesliga before the end of June meant TV payments were largely unaffected.

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Matchday Revenue: €46.3m
Broadcasting Revenue: €169.8m
Commercial Revenue: €149.6m

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Total Revenue: €365.7m

Atletico Madrid

Spain’s third richest club earned less than half the revenue of Barcelona or Real Madrid. Atletico Madrid saw revenue fall by €36m as the pandemic hit broadcast and matchday income.

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Matchday Revenue: €50.4m
Broadcasting Revenue: €198.5m
Commercial Revenue: €82.9m

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Total Revenue: €331.8m

Inter Milan

Inter Milan’s income dropped by €73m, or around a fifth. The late completion of Serie A meant all Italian clubs saw remaining TV payments delayed until the 2020-21 financial year.

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Matchday Revenue: €56.9m
Broadcasting Revenue: €136.0m
Commercial Revenue: €98.6m

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Total Revenue: €291.5m

Zenit St Petersburg

The only club in the top 20 not from one of Europe’s five biggest leagues, Zenit saw revenue grow by €56m. Their accounts fell at the end of 2019 so were not affected by the pandemic.

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Matchday Revenue: €14.8m
Broadcasting Revenue: €46.7m
Commercial Revenue: €175.0m

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Total Revenue: €236.5m

Schalke

The loss of Champions League football coupled with the pandemic took €102m off Schalke’s revenue. Sponsors such as Gazprom help the club punch above its weight commercially.

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Matchday Revenue: €35.7m
Broadcasting Revenue: €94.9m
Commercial Revenue: €92.2m

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Total Revenue: €222.8m

Everton

Everton climbed two places as one of only two clubs on the list to increase revenue. The Toffees offset hits to broadcast and matchday income by doubling their commercial earnings.

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Matchday Revenue: €13.6m
Broadcasting Revenue: €111.7m
Commercial Revenue: €86.7m

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Total Revenue: €212.0m

Lyon

Revenue at Champions League semi-finalists Lyon fell by €40m. The cancellation of Ligue 1 hit TV and matchday earnings, while income from their European run will leak into 2020-21 accounts.

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Matchday Revenue: €35.5m
Broadcasting Revenue: €97.6m
Commercial Revenue: €47.6m

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Total Revenue: €180.7m

Napoli

The third Italian club in the top 20, Napoli saw revenue dip by €31m. Like all Serie A teams, they were affected by delayed or withheld TV payments and lower than usual matchday income.

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Matchday Revenue: €13.2m
Broadcasting Revenue: €127.4m
Commercial Revenue: €35.7m

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Total Revenue: €176.3m

Eintracht Frankfurt

Eintracht Frankfurt climbed seven places despite revenue falling by €8m. Like other German sides, they benefited from the timely completion of the 2019-2020 Bundesliga season.

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Matchday Revenue: €38.6m
Broadcasting Revenue: €91.0m
Commercial Revenue: €44.4m

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Total Revenue: €174.0m

Why Barca and Madrid reign in Spain and beyond

Barcelona and Real Madrid remain comfortably ahead of all other clubs thanks to their vast commercial appeal.

There is very little between the two La Liga titans, however, with Real Madrid’s revenue just €200,000 less.

Barcelona saw a sharp decline from their record-breaking 2018-19 revenue of €840.8m.

That was in part down to the pandemic preventing fans from attending matches and delaying completion of the season.

Those two factors resulted in lower matchday income and deferred or refunded broadcaster payments for almost all teams.

Real Madrid’s revenue fell by a relatively modest €42m in comparison, to €714.9m, owing in part to strong commercial growth.

Barcelona and Real Madrid’s status as the world’s richest football clubs may seem somewhat at odds with their recent relative frugality.

Both sides’ sales outweighed their purchases in the last transfer window.

“Football clubs have not always been profit-making, healthy businesses,” Sam Boor, senior manager in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, told City A.M.

“They have a long history of generating operational losses, requiring loans or investment from owners, so the concept of financial difficulty is not new to football.

“Both Barcelona and Real Madrid are huge brands in global sport so their ability to source financing to help them through difficult periods is probably unmatched.

“I suspect that they’ll be fine in terms of the short-term impact of Covid, as long as it doesn’t go on for four, five, six years – in which case, there are problems for the broader football ecosystem.”

Man Utd suffer biggest hit to revenue

Bayern Munich overtook Manchester United as a result of their income remaining fairly stable while the Premier League club’s plummeted.

The Bundesliga champions’ revenue fell by just four per cent, or €26m, to €634.1m.

They benefited from the German league completing its season before the end of June, and therefore receiving associated payments during the 2019-20 financial year.

Other leagues, such as the Premier League, did not finish until July or August, meaning that some fees from broadcasters were rolled over into 2020-21.

Manchester United also suffered from being absent from the lucrative Champions League.

They saw revenue fall by €131m, or 19 per cent – the biggest drop-off among the top 20 Football Money League clubs.

English champions Liverpool returned to the top five for the first time in 18 years despite revenue contracting by €46m.

Manchester City remained sixth, as their income dropped by €61.4m, ahead of Paris Saint-Germain, who slipped two places.

PSG’s revenue fell €95m as the early cancellation of the remainder of the French top-flight season dented TV payments.

Chelsea and Tottenham swapped places in the top 10 and fellow Londonders Arsenal stayed 11th.

Juventus remained 10th, the highest placed Italian side. Inter Milan and Napoli also made the top 20.

Zenit St Petersburg were the only club from outside Europe’s big five leagues – the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 – to feature on the list.

The Russians were one of the few clubs whose income grew as they benefited from a return to the Champions League.

Equally importantly, their accounting period ended in December 2019, so was largely unaffected by Covid-19 factors.