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Picture: 123RF / SOMKKU9KANOKWAN
Picture: 123RF / SOMKKU9KANOKWAN

London — Manchester City has topped the Deloitte Football Money League for the first time as the world’s highest revenue-generating club in a 2020/2021 season affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Previous leaders Barcelona dropped to fourth in the 25th edition of the table, the Spanish club’s lowest position since 2013/2014.

Abu Dhabi-owned City, with revenues of €644.9m and a number of sponsors linked to the owners, climbed six places. The club hosting the Premier League champions and current leaders is only the fourth to top the Money League after Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United.

Real Madrid (€640.7m) was second in 2020/2021 and Bayern Munich (€611.4m) third. Manchester United was fifth, its lowest to date, Paris St Germain sixth and Liverpool seventh.

European champions club Chelsea, now up for sale and with sanctions imposed on Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, is eighth.

Eleven of the top 20 clubs were from the Premier League, the highest proportion ever, with Wolverhampton Wanderers entering for the first time in 17th position.

“The impact of Covid-19 is stark with the lack of fans in stadia unsurprisingly causing the lowest matchday revenue in the 25 years of the publication,” the report said. “Broadcast revenue is at a record high as a result of deferrals in distributions related to the delayed 2019/2020 season.”

The report said Money League clubs missed out on more than €2bn of revenue from the middle of the 2019/2020 season to the end of the 2020/2021 season, taking revenue back to the levels of nearly five years ago.

“Looking ahead to the 2023 Money League covering the 2021/2022 season, we expect revenue of Money League clubs to reach record levels, as they bounce back from the effects of the pandemic and push towards collective revenues of €10bn,” it added.

Meanwhile, Premier League broadcast rights values were set to pull further away from the other “big five” European leagues from 2022/2023.

Reuters

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