Spanish sides lead the way in richest club list

Europe's top 20 football
clubs earned more than €4
billion between them last
season, bucking the financial
downturn and leaving them
well equipped to comply with
Uefa's financial fair play
rules.
Deloitte's football money
league, published on
Thursday, showed an
unchanged top six with Real
Madrid and Barcelona leading
the way for the second
successive year.
Real's revenue last season
was €438.6 million, up from
401.4 in 2008/09, while
Barcelona made 398.1 and
will see a substantial rise
after securing a €165 million,
five-year shirt sponsorship
deal - the first time the club
has had a paid-for shirt
sponsor having carried the
Unicef logo.
Manchester United, who
topped the first six editions
of the money league from
1996/97, are third with
€ 349.8 million.
Bayern Munich are fourth
and there are five more
English Premier League clubs
in the top 12 with Arsenal
(5th), Chelsea (6th),
Liverpool (8th), Manchester
City (11th) and Champions
League newcomers
Tottenham Hotspur (12th).
City were the big climbers, up
from 20th (152.8 euros to
102.2), and they and
Tottenham are both likely to
move into the top 10 next
year.
"On-pitch performance and
participation in the
Champions League are
essential in maintaining a top
spot in the money league,"
Alan Switzer, director in
Deloitte's sports business
group told Reuters.
"Increased TV revenues
tend to also gain rival clubs
so the main way for clubs to
climb the table is through
matchday revenue,
particularly a new stadium.
"That is what happened
when Arsenal moved from
Highbury to The Emirates
and if lifted them from around
13th to fifth.
"If Tottenham and to a lesser
extent West Ham United were
to move into the Olympic
stadium it would have a
significant impact on their
revenues."
"The figures show the
continued resilience of
football's top clubs in the
global economic downturn
and the top clubs proved
themselves well-placed to
meet these economic
challenges," Switzer said.
Commenting on the potential
implications of Uefa's financial
fair play (FFP) rules, which
come into force from next
year, Deloitte sports group
director Paul Rawnsley said:
"Outside exceptional
circumstances, such as
investment in stadia or the
arrival of new owners, FFP
will require clubs to balance
their books, ensuring
expenditure does not
significantly exceed revenue
over time.
"Therefore, the strong
showing of English clubs in
the money league provides
encouragement about the
future competitive health of
English football."
Switzer added: "We haven't
done the sums yet to
establish whether clubs
satisfy the fair play rules but
they have known about them
for a long time and we're
confident that they will be
coming up with strategies to
deal with them

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