Man- U Top 2015 - 16 Money League... As Real Madrid Drop to Third Place

Manchester United has dislodged Real Madrid as the top revenue-generating football club in the world for the first time in 11 seasons, according to Deloitte’s annual Money League rankings.

Financial services company Deloitte said that the English Premier League club posted revenue of €689m ($734m) in the 2015-16 season, with Real dropping to third place behind Spanish LaLiga rival Barcelona.

United’s local rival, Manchester City, entered the top five for the first time, behind German Bundesliga club Bayern Munich in fourth place.

United reached the summit despite crashing out of the Uefa Champions League at the group stages and finishing fifth in the Premier League. However, the club did win the domestic FA Cup.

Eight of the top 20 clubs are from the Premier League and Tim Bridge, senior manager at Deloitte, said it is likely that every Premier League club will be in the top 30 next year due to a new bumper domestic media-rights deal that was activated this season.

“The Money League continues to demonstrate the Premier League's financial strength in depth,” Bridge said. "The appearance of Leicester shows that on-pitch success gives any Premier League club a chance of a place in the top 20. There is a strong chance that almost all Premier League clubs will be in the top 30 clubs next year.”

Aside from Real and Barcelona, only one other Spanish club, Atletico Madrid, made the top. There were also three clubs from Germany and four from Italy, as well as one representative from France (Paris Saint-Germain) and Russia (Zenit St Petersburg).

“It has taken phenomenal commercial revenue growth to help them (United) achieve this,” Dan Jones, partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, said. “In recent years, their ability to secure commercial partnerships with value in excess of that achievable by their peers has been the crucial factor in enabling the club to regain their place at the top of the Money League.”

Money League – Top 20:
2015-16 ranking (2014-15 ranking) / Club / 2015-16 revenue €m
1 (3) Manchester United / 689
2 (2) Barcelona / 620.2
3 (1) Real Madrid / 620.1
4 (5) Bayern Munich / 592
5 (6) Manchester City / 524.9
6 (4) Paris Saint-Germain / 520.9
7 (7) Arsenal / 468.5
8 (8) Chelsea / 447.4
9 (9) Liverpool / 403.8
10 (10) Juventus / 341.1
11 (11) Borussia Dortmund / 283.9
12 (12) Tottenham Hotspur / 279.7
13 (16) Atletico Madrid / 228.6
14 (13) Schalke / 224.5
15 (15) AS Roma / 218.2
16 (14) AC Milan / 214.7
17 (18) Zenit St Petersburg / 196.5
18 (n/a) West Ham United / 192.3
19 (20) Inter Milan / 179.2
20 (n/a) Leicester City / 172.1