Real Madrid the Richest club in the World

Real Madrid and Barcelona have extended their advantage over the rest of Europe at the top of the 2010-11 Football Money League.

Real Madrid have collected top spot for the seventh consecutive season with revenue of 479.5 million euros, while the remainder of the top six remains unchanged from 2009-10.

Barcelona are second with 450.7m euros, while defending English Premier League champions Manchester United were the highest ranked with 367m euros of revenue.

Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich and EPL pair Arsenal and Chelsea round out the top six, while AC Milan and Inter were the highest ranked Italian teams in seventh and eighth respectively.

Liverpool’s lack of European football means they slipped to ninth, while Bundesliga outfit Schalke were a surprise 10th after their Champions League semi-final run boosted their coffers.

The Football Money League list, which is compiled by financial group Deloitte, in calculated by gathering income streams from three key areas – matchday revenue, broadcast revenue and commercial revenue.

Staggeringly, the top 20 earned a combined 4.4 billion euros in the period measured, a figure which represents one quarter of the entire revenue accumulated in the European football market.

Once again, the Money League top 20 comprises clubs from the ‘big five’ European leagues – EPL, LA Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 – with England having six entries in the top 20 and five more clubs which narrowly missed out .

“Continued growth of the top 20 clubs during 2010-11 emphasises the strength of football’s top clubs, especially in these tough economic times,” Deloitte’s Dan Jones said.

“Whilst revenue growth has slowed from eight percent in 2009-10 to three percent in 2010-11, their large and loyal supporter bases, ability to drive strong broadcast audiences and continuing attraction to corporate partners has made them relatively resilient to the economic downturn.”

1. Real Madrid 479.5m, 2. Barcelona 450.7m, 3. Manchester United 367m, 4. Bayern Munich 321.4m, 5. Arsenal 251.1m, 6. Chelsea 249.8m, 7. Milan 235.1m, 8. Inter 211.4m, 9. Liverpool 203.3m, 10. Schalke 202.4m, 11. Tottenham 181m, 12. Manchester City 169.6m, 13. Juventus 153.9m, 14. Marseille 150.4m, 15. Roma 143.5m, 16. Borussia Dortmund 138.5m, 17. Lyon 132.8m, 18. Hamburg 128.8m, 19. Valencia 116.8m, 20. Napoli 114.9m.
\