Deloitte’s Money League For 2018

The turn of a New Year means a new edition of Deloitte’s Football Money League and analysis of the season just gone.

For 2018 and the 21st edition of the study into finances in the modern game, Deloitte looked at figures from the 2016/17 season and compared them with the previous campaign to see what kind of growth differing clubs had based on their on and off pitch successes.

Coming eight months after the end of last season financial performance shows that an aggregate revenue for the world’s top 20 performing sides on a financial front saw a 6% rise when compared to 2015/16.

In short that was a rise to an aggregate revenue figure of £6.8billion – a new record – with three clubs earning a combined revenue of 2billion Euros for the first time.

With Real Madrid dominating top spot with their revenue for eleven years, Manchester United regained their lead at the table (first time since 2003/04) last season and for this edition they make it two in a row with a total revenue of £581million which reflected strong growth across the three revenue categories – matchday, broadcast and commercial – and clearly with ten English Premier League sides in the top 20 the improved television deal is playing a part in that.

Barcelona slip to third spot as Real Madrid overtake them to claim second place.

Leicester City’s entirely unexpected Premier League crown in 2015/16 is also suitably reflected in the table as they are in for the second straight year and having made their debut in 20th place, they rise to 14th in this addition with Southampton making a debut and Everton also returning.

Deloitte predicted last edition that potentially all 20 Premier League clubs could come into their top 30, and although that hasn’t happened the number does rise from 12 to 14 but Bournemouth are the only debutant in the 21-30 list.

Speaking to the BBC partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, Dan Jones, explained.

‘Next year, we expect the eight billion euros [revenue] barrier will be broken, but revenue growth is not expected to be as significant as seen in 2016-17. Germany’s new domestic broadcast deal commences and will increase revenue, but Premier League and La Liga distributions will remain relatively stable, as both enter the second year of existing TV deals. Looking further ahead, the long term composition of the Money League is an intriguing topic. English clubs’ dominance will depend heavily on the outcome of the Premier League’s ongoing tender for the next three year TV deal starting from 2019-20.’