© EuroFootball.com
In the newly announced "Football Money League" list, which is compiled annually by one of the world's leading audit and consulting firms "Deloitte", the club with the highest income continues to be Madrid's "Real".
Following the Royal club are "Barcelona" and "Juventus", with last year's second-placed "Man Utd" now in 4th place, after leading in this field for eight years.
In the 2005-2006 season, Madrid's "Real" earned 292.2 million euros surpassing "Barcelona" by more than 30 million. The main reasons why the Madrid club earns the most are commercial deals with former team stars Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham, and their "galactico policy" in Asia.
"A significant part of "Real's" income comes from commercial deals with stars, while "Barcelona" follows a much more reliable and balanced income system. The Catalonian club has significantly increased its revenue compared to the 2002-2003 season - even doubling it," said Deloitte representative Dan Jones.
The main reason for "Man Utd's" drop to 4th place is cited as a very unsuccessful performance in last year's Champions League, where the team did not even make it past the group stage. However, it is reported that "United" was the most profitable club in the world last season - their profit after the season was 75 million euros.
Despite huge investments, London's "Chelsea" remains in 6th place, while reaching the Champions League final allowed "Arsenal" to earn 20 million euros more than in previous years.
Unexpectedly, the list of highest-earning clubs also includes "Hamburger", who had a successful season in the Bundesliga last year, and Lisbon's "Benfica", who reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
Overall, eight English clubs are in the top twenty. D. Jones predicts that due to the recently signed large Premier League agreement with broadcasters, half of the top twenty highest-earning clubs in the world for the 2007-2008 season will be from England.
The top twenty clubs with the highest earnings in the 2005-2006 season according to "Deloitte":
1. (1) Madrid's "Real" - 292.2 million euros;
2. (6) "Barcelona" - 259 million euros ;
3. (4) Turin's "Juventus" - 251.2 million euros;
4. (2) "Man Utd" - 242.6 million euros;
5. (3) "Milan" - 238.7 million euros;
6. (5) London's "Chelsea" - 221 million euros;
7. (9) Milan's "Inter" - 206.6 million euros;
8. (7) Munich's "Bayern" - 204.7 million euros;
9. (10) London's "Arsenal" - 192.4 million euros;
10. (8) "Liverpool" - 176 million euros;
11. (15) "Lyon" - 127.7 million euros;
12. (11) "Roma" - 127 million euros;
13. (12) "Newcastle" - 124.3 million euros;
14. (14) Gelsenkirchen's "Schalke" - 122.9 million euros;
15. (13) London's "Tottenham" - 107.2 million euros;
16. (-) "Hamburger" - 101.8 million euros;
17. (17) "Man City" - 89.4 million euros;
18. (-) Glasgow's "Rangers" - 88.5 million euros;
19. (-) London's "West Ham" - 86.9 million euros;
20. (-) Lisbon's "Benfica" - 85.1 million euros;
