Man Utd fall to 3rd in Football Money League

MANCHESTER United has slipped to third in the global rankings of football clubs by revenue.

Barcelona’s success on the pitch, defeating United in the Champions League Final and winning the Spanish league and cup, saw the Catalan club grab second place behind Real Madrid in the Deloitte Money League.

Thanks to its ability to negotiate its own broadcast deals – unlike English Premier League clubs which do it collectively – Real Madrid takes first place for a fifth consecutive year.

Real – which last year broke the world transfer record with its £80m acquisition of Cristiano Ronaldo – generated £341.9m (€401.4m) in 2008/9, ahead of Barcelona with £311.7m (€365.9m) and Manchester United £278.5m. (€327m) 

From a North West perspective, Liverpool rose one place to eighth with revenue of £184.8m and Machester City re-entered the top 20 in 19th place with revenue of £87m.

Compiled by Deloitte’s Manchester-based Sports Business Group, analysis in the Football Money League covers the 2008/09 season and is the most contemporary and reliable analysis of clubs’ relative financial performance.

The findings of the report will be showcased later at the Soccerex event in Manchester today.

Overall revenues for the Top 20 clubs increased in 2008/09 and were over €3.9 billion, as top clubs showed relative resistance to the economic downturn. 

Dan Jones, partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, said:  “Real Madrid’s 10% increase in revenue to €401m (£342m) came despite a relatively disappointing season domestically and in Europe.

“Broadcast income provided Real with its largest increase in revenue, and at €161m (£137m) is now greater than the total revenue of all but the 10 ten Money League clubs.

“United slip to third and, like other English clubs, were impacted by the continuing depreciation of the Pound Sterling against the Euro. 

“The scale of this is shown by the fact that if exchange rates remained at their June 2007 level, United would be top of the Money League table.”

Despite the debate about the financial security of English Premier League clubs , which has arisen after Portsmouth FC’s administration last week, Mr Jones, pictured above, says the fundamentals of football remain strong. 

“Financial problems experienced at the very highest level are far more likely to be a result of mismanagement, weak cost control or a lack of available credit than any problems with revenue generation.” 

Of the top 20 clubs ranked by turnover, seven are from England, five from Germany, Italy four and Spain and France two each.