Money Talks: The Richest Clubs in World Football, and Who's Keeping Track

When I was asked to compile a list of the richest clubs in world football, instead of just scoping out answers, I ended up with a lot more questions.

The idea of the "richest" football club seems a bit subjective now, as some of the most powerful clubs in the world are dealing with serious debt problems, and a number of determining factors could be at play when choosing the "richest" club.

Manchester City, a club that has been associated with growth and wealth over the past several seasons with its Sheikh Mansour-helmed renaissance and signing of marquee names, sits at the top of the Premier League, but as wages have soared, the club reported record losses this month.

Oftentimes, ownership is cited as the key associative factor with the wealth and power of a club, a la Sheikh Mansour and Roman Abramovich's Chelsea before that. Once-middling clubs who have recently seen a big-money overhaul with new ownership include Qatari-investor-owned Paris Saint-Germain and Málaga CF and Russian Premier League side Anzhi Makhachkala, whose billionaire investor-owner Suleiman Kerimov became a household name during the summer transfer window when the club acquired Samuel Eto'o and made him the highest-paid athlete in the world.

In all three cases, the influx of cash from new owners seems to be working favorably: PSG is at the top of Ligue 1, Málaga just missed out on Champions League qualification after a bottom-half finish last season and Anzhi is higher in the table than last season, though barely in the top half of the Russian Premier League. 

The two most commonly cited annual lists that keep track of the richest clubs, using different criteria, are the Deloitte Football Money League, which annually ranks the top 20 clubs based on generation of revenue, and Forbes Magazine's annual list of the 20 richest clubs based on highest total value (in U.S. dollars). 

The Deloitte Money League study is particularly interesting in all the areas it breaks down (you can read their full 2011 report, released in February and using data from the previous season, here). They gather their information by extracting the figures of total revenue from each club's financial statements, excluding transfer fees and VAT or sales taxes. From there, the data is broken down into three subsets of revenue streams: match-day, broadcast and commercial. 

The last one is particularly telling, as European competition leads to more broadcast revenue, not to mention an exponential growth in broadcasting opportunities with the increasing power of digital cable and football, or even league-specific television networks. With each country's football system placing different regulations on broadcast, the impact on the growth in broadcast revenue is different. For the Serie A sides that ranked high on the overall list, more than 60 percent of their revenue comes from broadcast contracts, according to the report.

In Italy and Spain, clubs can individually broker broadcasting deals with media companies without having to share the revenue. In the Premier League, half of the total broadcast revenue is shared equally among clubs, with the rest divided according to rank and appearances. 

Within Deloitte's list of richest clubs in terms of matchday-generated revenue, far more clubs appeared outside the top overall list, including Celtic, Rangers, Benfica and Valencia. The "big three" that seem to pervade these lists, however, still dominated: Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United each earned more than €100 million from match-day revenue alone in the 2009-2010 season. 

Real Madrid, the top-ranking club on Deloitte's list twice in a row, placed in the top two in match-day, commercial and broadcast. The organization said in the report they expect the top two Spain clubs to hold the top two positions for a while, but that the English clubs, of which there were six in the top 20, are likely to continue to ascend. 

Here are the 22 clubs who cracked the overall top 20 on both lists. For all intents and purposes, the clubs in this list below were placed in order by averaging the club's places on the Forbes list and on the Deloitte list. Revenue data is from the Forbes list, released in April 2011 and listed in U.S. dollars. 

1. Real Madrid

Current Value: $1,451 million

Revenue: $537 million

Place on Forbes List: 2

Place in Deloitte Money League: 1 

Los Merengues stayed at the top of the Deloitte Money League for the second consecutive year, generating €438.6 million in revenue over the course of the 2009-2010 season and experiencing an astonishing 10-percent increase in value (U.S. dollars) this season, according to Forbes. Their revenue generated this year was the highest of any world football team and the second-highest of any sports outfit, just behind Major League Baseball's New York Yankees. 

2. Manchester United

Current Value: $1,864 million

Revenue: $428 million

Place on Forbes List: 1

Place in Deloitte Money League: 3

Manchester United may trail behind the two La Liga giants in terms of total revenue earned last season, but according to Forbes, the Old Trafford outfit is the most valuable sporting brand in the entire world thanks to their ever-increasing global fan following.

The club is suffering from debt problems carried over from the Glazers' takeover, but with an increase in commercial and media revenue following a successful Premiership season, the club's debt gap is closing.

3. Barcelona

Current Value: $975 million

Revenue: $488 million

Place on Forbes List: 5

Place in Deloitte Money League: 2 

Last year, the Blaugrana took second place to rivals Real Madrid in terms of the highest amount of earned revenue in world football for the second-place spot in the Deloitte Money League. However, the club's overall value has dropped slightly, and debt continues to be a major problem. According to Forbes, the team's broadcast carriers, MediaPro, are also experiencing financial woes, which could mean an end to the partnership. 

In Deloitte's report, Barcelona topped the list of clubs generating money from broadcast revenue (accounting for nearly half the club's total revenue), as following a wildly successful sextuple-winning season, they were able to link a broadcast deal worth around €150 million. 

4. Bayern Munich

Current Value: $1,048 million

Revenues: $396 million

Place on Forbes list: 4

Place in Deloitte Money League: 4 

The largest club fanbase in the largest economy in Europe naturally produces quite a lot of commercial interest. According to the Deloitte report, Bayern Munich gained more revenue from commercial interest than any other club, almost €173 million, accounting for more than half of the club's revenue for that year, not to mention a regular selling out of the Allianz Arena. A regular European presence contributes to increased revenue from broadcast and commercial ventures. 

5. Arsenal

Current Value: $1,192 million

Revenue: $336 million

Place on Forbes List: 3

Place in Deloitte Money League: 5

Arsenal inked a multi-year deal in late 2010 with YES Network, the largest regional sports channel in the U.S., to televise games on tape delay as well as magazine shows.

For all the talk about Arsene Wenger being prudent with his spending during the transfer season, Arsenal have quite a bit of it. An increasing international fan base, and in particular its American fan base, has contributed to the club's rise on both lists. An increase in broadcast revenue, according to the Forbes piece, came in part due to a key media deal with American sports channel the YES Network to show the Gunners' league and European matches, as well as the Arsenal 360 and Arsenal World magazine shows.

6. AC Milan

Current Value: $838 million 

Revenue: $289 million

Place on Forbes List: 6

Place in Deloitte Money League: 7

Like the other "Big Three" Serie A clubs (Inter Milan and Juventus), the majority of the Rossoneri's revenue comes from broadcasting—60 percent, according to Deloitte. Club match-day earnings fell in the 2009-2010 season with a decrease in attendance, but a Scudetto last season and a strong showing so far in European play will likely drive those numbers back up. 

7. Chelsea

Current Value: $658 million

Revenue: $313 million

Place on Forbes List: 7

Place in Deloitte Money League: 6

Lucrative sponsorship deals helped bring in more revenue to the club, even as a faltering Champions League performance led to a slight dip in match-day earnings. But the Roman Abramovich-owned club remains among the top earners, bolstered by consistent high performance within the league and a presence in Europe, not to mention, according to Deloitte, an impressive average 99-percent-capacity home attendance record. 

8. Liverpool

Current Value: $552 million

Revenue: $276 million

Place on Forbes List: 9

Place in Deloitte Money League: 8

Ownership shakeups and recent lack of a consistent presence in Europe have led to an overall drop in revenue and the Reds sliding down both lists from previous years. But new ownership (New England Sports Ventures as of last season) and new sponsorship deals (Standard Chartered's whopping £20 million kit deal), not to mention one of the strongest international fan bases of any English club, contribute to better broadcasting deals and will likely put Liverpool in a position to move higher in the near future. 

9. Juventus

Current Value: $628 million

Revenue: $251 million

Place on Forbes List: 8

Place in Deloitte Money League: 10

Juve has seen a four-percent drop in value from last year, but as the club regains its strength and looks prepared to be Scudetto contenders, or at least return to European play come the end of the season, this should lead to an increase in attendance, revenue and overall value of the Old Lady's brand. Look for them to secure a higher place on the list at this time next season. 

Adding to Juventus' potential value is the construction of a privately financed new stadium, a €105 million, 41,000-capacity ground that increases the attendance capabilities by almost half from the Stadio Olimpico.  

10. Inter Milan

Current Value: $441 million

Revenue: $275 million

Place on Forbes List: 10

Place in Deloitte Money League: 19

According to Forbes, Inter's Massimo Moratti put up $100 million over the course of three years to curb Inter's operating losses. Although the club saw a significant upswing in revenue after a treble-winning season in 2009-2010 with the Coppa Italia, Scudetto and Champions League, the club's profile on both lists has not raised much. Like their crosstown rivals AC Milan, a large chunk of Inter's revenue comes from broadcasting deals.

11. Tottenham Hotspur 

Current Value: $412 million 

Revenue: $179 million

Place on Forbes List: 11

Place in Deloitte Money League: 12

Deloitte predicted Spurs will be a side whose financial profile continues to increase, possibly cracking the top 10 in the following year's edition. The club's run in the Champions League contributed to an increase in broadcast and commercial revenue, while as Forbes points out, the club has managed to maintain that all-important balance between keeping player costs from becoming astronomical and still seeing great performances on the pitch.

12. Manchester City

Current Value: $291 million 

Revenue: $153 million

Place on Forbes List: 15

Place in Deloitte Money League: 11

Manchester City has probably made the most dramatic jump of any club, up a whopping nine places from the previous year in the Deloitte rankings. Their first appearance in the Champions League and the maintenance of an unbeaten record so far in Premiership play bode well for increased revenue on all fronts. However, the team reported record operating losses earlier this month, indicating there could be issues in the future. 

13. Hamburger SV

Current Value: $340 million

Revenue: $179 million

Place on Forbes List: 14

Place in Deloitte Money League: 13

As stated before, Germany has the largest economy in Europe, and when your team is in the second-largest city in that economy, there are plenty of opportunities for revenue generation. A new stadium-naming-rights deal and presence in the UEFA Europa League have contributed to the club maintaining a high profile on these lists. However, a lack of a presence in European league play this season, and a slight drop in form in the Bundesliga, mean Hamburg could drop a few spots when the next rankings are released. 

14. Olympique Lyonnais

Current Value: $358 million

Revenue: $179 million

Place on Forbes List: 13

Place in Deloitte Money League: 14

A regular position in the Champions League, where Lyon has appeared the past three seasons, has helped bolster its position as a financial powerhouse within Europe. Future plans for a 60,000-seat stadium should help drive up profits from match-day attendance, as well as present opportunities for further commercial involvement. 

15. Schalke 04

Current Value: $377 million 

Revenue: $171 million

Place on Forbes List: 12

Place in Deloitte Money League: 16

As with Bayern Munich, a significant source of revenue—57 percent—comes from commercial interest, most notably from kit sponsors Gazprom. The club's return to the Champions League last season provided a jump in broadcast revenue as well. 

16. Olympique de Marseille

Current Value: $277 million

Revenue: $173 million

Place on Forbes list: 18

Place in Deloitte Money League: 15

Like the other Ligue 1 Champions League regulars on this list, Marseille's strong European presence has helped drive up broadcast and commercial revenue. And as with Lyon, plans for stadium expansion, projected to be completed by the 2016 Euro games, should provide a significant increase in match-day takings.

17. VfB Stuttgart

Current Value: $281 million

Revenues: $141 million

Place on Forbes List: 16

Place in Deloitte Money League: 19

Like the other Bundesliga clubs, Stuttgart earns heavily from commercial interests, most notably, as Forbes notes, the stadium-naming deal with Mercedes-Benz and sponsorship from Puma. Regular attendance and improved performance also contribute to good showings for Stuttgart.

18. Atlético de Madrid

Current Value: $275 million

Revenue: $153 million

Place on Forbes List: 19

Place in Deloitte Money League: 20

A new ground and increased presence in European competition spelled better numbers for the Madrid club, not to mention Atlético ranked rather high in the Deloitte report in terms of match-day earnings. However, middling performance for the club this year and the loss of key players like Sergio Agüero could spell a significant drop for Atlético in future rankings.

19. Werder Bremen

Current Value: $279 million

Revenue: $147 million

Place on Forbes List: 17

According to Forbes, and as with Tottenham Hotspur, one of Werder Bremen's key attributes is the club's ability to maintain player costs well. A lack of presence in Europe and slightly decreasing overall revenues have kept them out of the Deloitte Money League, but the club remains one of the top in Europe in terms of match-day earnings.

20. AS Roma

Revenue: $163 million

Place in Deloitte Money League: 18

A return to the Champions League in the 2010-2011 season helped recover their spot after a drop in the previous season. The Giallorossi have one of the best attendance records for domestic competition, which will also contribute to future earnings.

21. Borussia Dortmund 

Current Value: $260 million

Revenue: $124 million

Place on Forbes List: 20

Recently-generated stadium re-naming rights (Signal Iduna Park), one of the most fervent fan followings in Europe, a Bundesliga title and an appearance in the Champions League will all contribute to increased growth for the BVB this season and, if they can repeat that form, the ones to come. 

22. Aston Villa

Revenue: $146 million

Place in Deloitte Money League: 20

Villa made the Deloitte Money League list for the first time in nearly a decade, with increases in revenue primarily spurred by income from broadcast deals, taking Newcastle United's spot in terms of Premier League revenue-generating as the Magpies were relegated. However, with Villa slipping down the table and Newcastle proving to be a sleeper-hit team this season, the roles may be reversed by the end of this season.