Royal and richest. That’s Real

The Spanish giant has topped the ranking of the highest-earning clubs for the tenth year in a row. Last year it earned €549.5 million.
Royal and richest – that’s Real

The Spanish football powerhouse claimed its tenth UEFA Champions League title last year. And now, for the tenth time, it has topped the Deloitte Football Money League ranking of the world’s richest football clubs. After last season, Real Madrid earned a total of €549.5 million – €30 million more than runner-up Manchester United. “Real Madrid continues its commercial success and has also begun modernising its stadium. It looks likely that Los Blancos will defend this position next year,” estimated Dan Jones of Deloitte, the author of the ranking.

The largest portion of Real Madrid’s income comes from commercial revenue – sponsorship deals, shirt sales, and other licensed products sold worldwide. “But Real Madrid also became the first club in history to surpass €200 million in a single year from the sale of television rights,” notes Jones. For comparison, that’s €20 million more than the second most famous Spanish team, FC Barcelona, and more than €100 million above last year’s Spanish league champion, Atlético Madrid. “While in the English Premier League, TV rights revenues are distributed in a spirit of solidarity, in Spain it is Real Madrid and Barcelona who receive the most by far,” sports analyst and football agent Jozef Tokos told the Economic Daily. He noted not only Real Madrid’s tenth triumph in the ranking but also the fact that for the first time in history, eight Premier League clubs appeared in the top 20. “Last year, the new exclusive TV rights deal began paying out, which brought clubs like Everton and Newcastle into the ranking,” said Tokos. He believes that if the trend of the euro losing value against the pound continues over the coming months, even more English clubs could make the list in next year’s Football Money League.

Slovak football clubs and their owners will never earn the kind of money seen in the top 30 of the Football Money League. The best in Europe’s elite competitions make millions primarily from TV rights and lucrative sponsorship deals. In Slovakia, it’s different – most clubs survive by selling players abroad. According to the SIMS agency, Slovan Bratislava’s revenue in 2013 was just over €7 million. By comparison, the last club on Deloitte’s list, Stoke City of England, had almost 17 times more. “Slovak clubs – and Czech ones too – will never get anywhere near these revenues. It’s determined by the size of the market, meaning that million-euro income from TV rights or ticket sales will simply never happen here. It’s science fiction,” says Jozef Tokos. According to him, the only country from Central and Eastern Europe that might one day have a club in the elite top 30 is Russia – and only if its economic situation stabilises.