It goes without saying that money rules football. In competitions, it may really separate the actual title contenders from the rest of the chasing pack as major trades around the £100 million mark are increasingly frequently seen on the transfer market.
However, only a small number of teams actually have the resources to spend so much money on competing for awards. Because some clubs have smaller funds, the game of football is ultimately more about surviving than anything else.
In January 2023, Deloitte published their annual Football Money league. Based on the numbers from 2022, they compiled a list of the wealthiest clubs in world football and all of them were from Europe. So where is the money in world football?
It should be noted that income for clubs comes from many sources such as sponsorship deals, prize money, commercial rights, transfers, and punters walking through the turnstiles week after week and buying merchandise and season tickets.
Three of the top five wealthiest football clubs on the Deloitte list were from the English Premier League. Topping the charts for the second season running was Manchester City with a revenue of £619.1m. That was up from £571.1m from the previous season. Liverpool came in third, followed closely by Manchester United.
Of the top 10 wealthiest clubs, six of them were Premier League clubs. London clubs Chelsea, Tottenham, and Arsenal filled 8th through 10th in the final standings, with Arsenal coming in with a revenue of £367.1m.
There’s little surprise surrounding the other names on the list. The power that comes from wealth generally translates as success on the pitch. La Liga giants Real Madrid and Barcelona both placed well.
Barcelona faced massive financial struggles last year, which meant that they did slip down the charts from the previous list. Their big El Clásico rivals Real Madrid fared a lot better.
For the second season running, they remained Manchester City’s closest financial challengers near the top of the wealthy list, the only other team to generate more than £600m in revenue.
Summary of the richest football clubs in the world in 2023
