World’s Twenty Richest Soccer Clubs
Success in European soccer, or football if you prefer, seems to be largely about the money. In the same way that the New York Yankees can buy the best baseball players on the market, the top European clubs can go out an acquire the top talent available. It’s the biggest reasons the best squads tend to remain the same from season to season. According to the people over at the Deloitte Sports Business Group, these are the top twenty richest soccer clubs based on revenues from last season (all revenue listed in millions, either pound sterlings or euros as indicated). And this isn’t just a European ranking, it’s a world ranking. It just happens that the top 20 is entirely populated by European clubs. These rankings remains largely unchanged from the previous year, although Celtic, Valencia, and Werder Bremen have been replaced by Manchester City, Fenerbahçe, and Stuttgart.
Although it will never happen, I would love see these twenty compete in an All Money League. Here’s the countdown from twenty to number one:
20. Manchester City (£82.3, €104.0)
19. Fenerbahçe S.K. (£88.1, €111.3)
18. VfB Stuttgart (£88.3, €111.5)
17. Newcastle United F.C. (£99.4, €125.6)
16. Olympique de Marseille (£100.4, €126.8)
15. Hamburger SV (£101.3, €127.9)
14. Tottenham Hotspur F.C. (£114.8, €145.0)
13. Schalke 04 (£117.5, €148.4)
12. Olympique Lyonnais (£123.3, €155.7)
11. Juventus F.C. (£132.6, €167.5)
10. F.C. Internazionale Milano (£136.9, €172.9)
9. A.S. Roma (£138.9, €175.4)
8. A.C. Milan (£165.8, €209.5)
7. Liverpool F.C. (£167.0, €210.9)
6. Arsenal F.C. (£209.3, €264.4)
5. Chelsea F.C. (£212.9, €268.9)
4. FC Bayern Munich (£233.8, €295.3)
3. FC Barcelona (£244.4, €308.8)
2. Manchester United F.C. (£257.1, €324.8)
