Man City top rich club list for second year running

• Published date: 19 January 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

English clubs occupy more than half of the top 20 spots in the Deloitte Football Money League for the first time, with Manchester City retaining pole position.

The Premier League's dominance of the global club game is underlined in the financial services firm's 2023 report, which found 11 of the top 20 clubs generating the most revenue in the 2021-22 season were based in England.

The English top flight's broadcast revenues remain the envy of the rest of the world, and the report found that 16 clubs - 80 per cent of the league - featured in the 2023 Money League's top 30.

Manchester City generated £619.1million in 2021-22, according to the report, including a Premier League record of almost £330m in commercial revenue.

Liverpool achieved their highest-ever position of third in the survey's 26-year history with recorded revenue of £594.3m. The Reds were seventh in the previous Money League, but their 2021-22 performance - including a run to the Champions League final - took them above north-west rivals Manchester United for the first time.

Leeds entered the top 20 for the first time since 2002-03, coming in 18th, while Newcastle returned to the top 20 in 20th position. The report found those clubs' commercial and matchday revenue earnings helped push them above other English clubs in receipt of similar revenue from the Premier League's TV deals.

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European champions Real Madrid remained second, but their bitter rivals Barcelona dropped from fourth to seventh on the back of a 13 per cent fall in broadcast revenue.

The report found neither club's revenue has yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels, with both teams still committed to the idea of a European Super League.

The Premier League was the only one of Europe's 'Big Five' leagues to experience an increase in revenue from broadcast sales in its most recent cycle.

Tim Bridge, the head of Deloitte's Sports Business Group, told the PA news agency he could envisage a position in years to come where all 20 Premier League clubs occupied places in the top 30, and said the report was 'a stark message' for the rest of Europe.

'The Premier League model...