Spanish clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona maintain the top
two slots in Deloitte's Football Money League, followed by Manchester United,
Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Chelsea, the report said, based on revenue for the
2010-11 season.
"Continued growth of the top 20 clubs during 2010/11
emphasizes the strength of football's top clubs, especially in these tough
economic times," said Dan Jones, partner in the Sports Business Group at
Deloitte.
"Whilst revenue growth has slowed from 8 percent in
2009/10 to 3 percent in 2010/11, their large and loyal supporter bases, ability
to drive strong broadcast audiences and continuing attraction to corporate
partners has made them relatively resilient to the economic downturn," he
added.
The top 20 generated 4.4 billion euros ($5.83 billion) in
revenue, more than a quarter of the total for European football as a whole.
Spain has been one of the European economies hardest hit
by the euro crisis but Real Madrid and Barcelona are global brands that can be
marketed to international viewers and sponsors.
"In much the same way as the Premier League is for
England, they are very successful exports for the Spanish economy," Jones
told Reuters.
"The challenge for Spain is that these two are so
far ahead of the rest on and off the pitch." Valencia, in 19th spot, were
the only other club to make the top 20. The gulf between the rich and poor is
wider in Spain than other countries because clubs sell TV rights individually
rather than collectively.
The top 20 - who make up the world's highest earning
clubs - are drawn from the big five European leagues. Six are from England,
five from Italy, four from Germany, three from Spain and two from France.
The value of the Champions League was underlined as
German club Schalke 04 jumped six places to make the top 10 for the first time
on the back of reaching the last four of the premier European club competition.
Revenue at Real Madrid was 479.5 million euros, against
450.7 million for Barcelona and 367 million for Manchester United, beaten by
Barcelona in last season's Champions League final.
Deloitte warned that United were likely to fall more than
a 100 million euros adrift of their Spanish rivals in the current year after an
early exit from the Champions League.
Big spending English Premier League leaders Manchester
City, back-rolled by cash from Abu Dhabi, were 12th on the list while
Qatari-backed Paris Saint Germain, who top the French league, did not feature
this time.
Many soccer clubs continue to make big losses as they
spend heavily on players to try to ensure success on the field.
However, new rules introduced by European soccer's
governing body UEFA mean clubs must curb their losses or risk exclusion from
major tournaments.
"Football clubs have been very successful over the
past 20 years at generating more revenue but less good historically at cost
control and that is what Financial Fair Play is there to do," Jones said.
He said subdued activity in the January transfer window
indicated that clubs were getting the message.
"There is as much focus on cost control as there has
ever been," he added.
