Real Madrid is the world’s richest football club for the tenth time in a row, according to a report by accounting and consulting firm Deloitte. With eight of the top 20 football clubs in the top 20, the Premier League maintains its dominant position. Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United is the richest club in England, while Everton can call itself the fastest growing football club financially.

Football Money League 2015
Every year the ‘Sports Group’ carries out an assessment Deloitte the finances of the world’s highest-earning clubs. Their latest report – ‘Football Money League 2015’ – shows that in the world’s most popular sport there is a widening gap – financially at least – between the elite clubs and the rest. In 2004, Aston Villa, then ranked #20 in the world’s top 20 richest clubs, had a turnover of €84m, while the richest club (Manchester United) earned around €259m. Ten years later, the financial threshold for making the top 20 has now risen to €144m, with leaders Real Madrid turning over no less than €550m. This surge in turnover is largely due to a huge increase in revenue from broadcasting rights, coupled with revenue from other commercial activities.

Overview of the 20 richest football clubs in the world:

€6 billion
Together, these 20 clubs generate annual revenues of more than €6 billion, a threshold that has been surpassed for the first time in history. At the top of the Money League, Manchester United have joined Real Madrid as the only clubs to generate more than €500 million a year. German champions Bayern Munich are third, while Lionel Messi’s Barcelona are fourth. England’s second-richest club, Manchester City, have a turnover of €414 million, 25% lower than derby rivals Manchester United. Twenty-sixth on the list are Everton with a turnover of €144 million, €400 million lower than leaders Real Madrid.

Premier League dominates
Premier League clubs dominate the top 20 – the number of English clubs in the rankings has increased from six last year to eight in 2015. Looking at the top 40 further underlines the financial dominance of England’s top clubs: the number of Premier League clubs in the top 30 has increased from eight to 14 and all Premier League clubs are now in the global top 40. This is due, the researchers say, but to one factor: the vastly larger revenues from television rights that Premier League clubs earn – and the relatively more even distribution of these.

Everton’s fastest growing
Analysis of club annual growth shows Everton were the fastest growing financial club last year, with turnover increasing by 43%, followed by Champions League finalists Atlético de Madrid (+42%) and Italian club Napoli (+42%). Only two clubs in the top 20 saw their turnover decrease – Milanese clubs AC Milan and Inter Milan.