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According to the research released by the audit company Deloitte, the highest earning, or as it is proclaimed, the richest club in the world in terms of revenue remains "Man Utd", which has improved its revenue by more than 40 million euros surpassing Madrid's "Real".
In the Deloitte study, it is also written that successful clubs like "Chelsea" and "Arsenal", who are building a new stadium, have great potential and in the future could surpass not only the third-placed Italian champions "Milan", but also the star-studded "Real".
However, although the foreign media proclaims that this study shows a "rich list", it does not entirely reflect the true situation, as Deloitte does not provide clubs' expenses in their report, such as transfer taxes or player and staff salaries.
For example, the big spender "Chelsea" suffered losses of 130 million euros last year and therefore does not actually seem as wealthy, although on the other hand, for the London club with the support of billionaire R. Abramovich, this should not cause major financial problems.
The study found that clubs in Spain and especially Italy mostly earn from the sale of broadcasting rights, while the revenues of clubs in the UK are more balanced because a lot of money is collected from spectators at stadiums.
The absolute leader in terms of money earned from commerce is Munich's "Bayern", receiving more than 100 million euros, while in terms of revenue from broadcasting rights, "Milan" leads with 134 million euros, and "Man Utd" earns the most from spectators, around 92 million euros.
A significant source of money is the UEFA Champions League - clubs participating in this tournament can receive from 10 to 20 percent of their revenues. The "Chelsea" club earned the most from this prestigious tournament, receiving about 15 million from spectators and almost 29 million from the league itself.
In the published top twenty earners, there are only European clubs - eight from England, five from Italy, two each from Germany, Scotland, and Spain, and one from France. "Man City" made it to the top twenty for the first time, while "Marseille", "Rangers", and "Aston Villa" returned to it after some time.
Top twenty clubs earning the most in 2003/04 season: (Position 2003/04, position 2002/03, club, revenue in million euros) 1. (1) 259 2. (4) 236 3. (3) 222.3 4.(10) 217 5. (2) 215 6. (7) 173.6 7. (13) 169.2 8. (6) 166.5 9. (5) 166.3 10. (8) 139.5 11. (10) 136.6 12. (11) 108.8 13. (18) 104.2 14. (16) 100.1 15. (15) 99.4 16. (-) 93.5 17. (14) 91.4 18. (-) 88 19. (-) 86.2 20. (-) 84.4
