Deloitte Football Money League reveals 20 highest earning clubs

Manchester City remain top of the latest Deloitte Football Money League, which ranks all clubs on their revenue across the 2021/22 season to reveal a top 20.

The table shows the financial power of the Premier League, with 11 English sides making the list and only nine others from the rest of Europe.

Revenue is made up of three streams: Commercial, which is the money earned from sponsorships; Broadcasting, what is paid for media rights; and Matchday, which is anything a club brings in from ticket sales, hospitality and merchandise directly relating to games. Transfer income is not counted.

City, who retained the Premier League title in 2021/22, raked in just under £620m for the season. That was more than the equivalent of £604.5m for Real Madrid in second place.

Liverpool shot up four places from their 2020/21 ranking, leapfrogging fierce rivals Manchester United in the process for the first time ever in the 26 years of the Deloitte Football Money League. The Merseysiders saw a 22% spike, put down to reaching the Champions League final and growth in their matchday revenue at an increased capacity Anfield.

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Manchester United still experienced an 18% growth in their revenue from one season to the next, although still not as high as the £600m+ figure recorded pre-pandemic.

Bayern Munich and Barcelona each saw only minor increases to their revenue and both slipped three places out of the top five to sixth and seventh respectively.

Chelsea (£481m), Tottenham (£443m) and Arsenal (£367m) complete the top 10.

The real economic strength of the Premier League is shown in the rest of the table, with West Ham, Leicester, Leeds, Everton and Newcastle all featuring. The Hammers in particular brought in more money than seven-time European champions AC Milan, who lifted the Serie A title in May.

Broadcasting proved to be the difference, with the Premier League still the main choice of international markets around the world and the value of media rights increasing during the most recent sales process – the only one of Europe’s top five leagues to do so.

Deloitte Football Money League 2021/22