Spanish pair top rich list

Posted Tuesday, March 02, 2010 by PA

Manchester United have dropped to third place behind Real Madrid and Barcelona in the 'rich list' of European clubs.

The Deloitte Football Money League sees the two Spanish clubs secure the top spots but mainly due to the continuing decline of the pound against the euro.

Real Madrid has topped the 'rich list' for the last five years but Barcelona's unprecedented success last season where they won five trophies has seen them overtake United despite a 9% rise in income at Old Trafford.

The overwhelming dominance of Real Madrid and Barcelona in Spain is shown by the fact that no other La Liga side occupy a top 20 place, while there is a strong sprinkling of Italian and German clubs, including Bayern Munich who are fourth.

The two Spanish giants have one significant advantage in revenue terms in that they negotiate their own individual television rights while the Premier League have a collective deal which is shared much more equally among all 20 clubs.

The most notable change in the list, based on clubs' revenue excluding transfer fees, sees Arsenal leapfrog Chelsea, with the Gunners recording a 7% rise in revenue to £224million compared to their London rivals' £206million - a 3% fall in revenue.

Dan Jones, partner in the sports business group at Deloitte, told Press Association Sport: "Chelsea's revenue has dropped because last season was a bit worse than usual on the pitch, they had frozen season ticket prices and there was not a lot going on in big new commercial developments.

"Arsenal have the advantage in matchday income with a new 60,000-seater stadium and they made the semi-finals of both the Champions League and the FA Cup.

"All the English clubs were impacted by the continuing depreciation of the pound against the euro and 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."

Liverpool, who enjoyed an 11% revenue increase, rose a place to seventh above AC Milan. There are seven English sides in the top 20 in Europe - Tottenham are 15th, Manchester City 19th and Newcastle 20th.