Real tops the revenue chart. After two years

Spanish giant becomes the first club in history to earn over three-quarters of a billion euros. Knocks English Manchester United off the top spot.

The two-year reign of Manchester United as the highest-earning football club in the world has come to an end. It has been replaced at the top by Spanish giant Real Madrid. According to the annual Football Money League ranking by Deloitte, Real Madrid recorded total revenues of 750.9 million euros in the 2017/2018 season. For the first time in history, a club has surpassed the three-quarter-billion revenue mark. Real Madrid’s income grew year-on-year by more than 75 million euros. A key factor in this growth and their return to the top of the rankings was the club’s third consecutive Champions League title. “Real’s economic results clearly reflect their sporting success. But we’ll see whether they can maintain these figures next year—after the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo,” said Jozef Tokos, sports analyst and football agent, for the Economic Daily.

A historic moment
Real Madrid became the first club in Champions League history to win the trophy three times in a row. This achievement brought in lucrative bonuses, especially from the club’s main sponsors. “Real Madrid’s exceptional financial performance stems from a long history of success on the pitch. That has allowed the club to keep increasing its commercial revenues,” explained Dan Jones, one of the authors of the ranking and a partner in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group. With total commercial revenues of 356 million euros, Real Madrid now has the highest commercial income of any football club in the world. This segment makes up nearly half of all seasonal income for “Los Blancos” in the past football year.

As Jozef Tokos noted, it will be interesting to see how Real deals with the financial impact of Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure. The Portuguese star moved from Madrid to Juventus in the summer of 2018. “The Ronaldo factor will show up in next year’s Deloitte ranking. It’s certain that Juventus’ revenues—from shirt sales, tickets, and sponsors—will rise. On the other hand, for Real, results will now be even more important than in previous years,” Tokos said. Real Madrid has not been delivering convincing performances in the current season. Though it won its Champions League group, it also suffered two defeats. And in the Spanish top league, it sits in third place—ten points behind leader Barcelona.

Football industry keeps growing
The total revenue of the 20 highest-earning clubs in the Football Money League ranking is 8.3 billion euros—a 6 percent increase from the previous year. “This confirms the continuous growth of the top-level football industry. This trend has held for several years, and I don’t expect anything to change in the near future,” Tokos said, adding that in the case of an economic recession, it’s difficult to predict its possible impact on the football industry.

The most significant year-on-year revenue growth didn’t come from one of the top ten clubs, but from Newcastle United—the club where Slovak goalkeeper Martin Dúbravka plays. Newcastle’s income rose from 100 million euros to 202 million, mainly due to promotion from the second-tier Championship to the elite Premier League. Thanks to that, Newcastle ranked 19th in the list. Other clubs that saw major revenue growth include AS Roma (almost 46 percent) and Liverpool FC (over 21 percent). In both cases, the increase was driven by strong earnings from last season’s Champions League performance—Roma reached the semifinals and Liverpool advanced to the final.