Real Madrid celebrate (Courtesy: Real Madrid/X)
Spanish football giants Real Madrid have overtaken treble winners Manchester City to become the highest revenue-generating club in 2022-23 for the first time since 2017-18.
Real Madrid reported record revenue of €831m, an increase of €118m over the last year. The club’s growth is largely attributable to strong retail performance and higher stadium attendance, following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.
Despite a record-breaking season both on and off-pitch, Manchester City fall to second place in the 2024 ranking, as per an official media release. The club reported its highest-ever revenue for a season, €826m, driven by successful UEFA Champions League (“UCL”) and Premier League campaigns that bolstered both broadcast and commercial revenues by €50m and €26m respectively.
Paris Saint-Germain (€802m) broke into the top three for the first time in Money League history, finishing ahead of FC Barcelona (€800m) for a second consecutive year. The Parisian club reported a year-on-year increase of €148m, largely attributable to its share in the aforementioned CVC investment into the commercial subsidiary of Ligue de Football Professional, generating €83.5m for the club.
FC Barcelona were one of the biggest movers, rising to 4th from 7th. Its growth was underpinned by fans returning to stadia, record licensing and merchandising sales and rise in sponsorship revenues. Overall, this yielded a 61% and 45% increase in matchday and commercial revenue respectively.
Contrastingly, Liverpool reported the greatest fall in year-on-year rankings, moving from 3rd to 7th, and were one of three Money League clubs (alongside Atlético de Madrid and West Ham United) to report a decline in revenue in comparison to the previous season. This was due to a downturn in on-pitch results across both domestic and European competitions after the club reached three finals and finished 2nd in the league in 2021/22.
Serie A clubs – AC Milan, FC Internazionale Milano and SSC Napoli – also reported significant revenue growth following strong on-pitch results, both domestically and in the UCL. SSC Napoli reported an 80% increase in broadcast revenues following their first Scudetto since 1989/90 and a strong UCL performance. Similarly, AC Milan and FC Internazionale Milano reported increases of 30% and 22% having reached the semi-finals and finals of the UCL for the first time since 2006/07 and 2009/10, respectively.
