Source: Statista
Football has long been big business. With huge revenues to be found off the pitch, success on it isn’t necessarily essential for bringing in the big money. Despite winning two cups, by their standards Manchester United had a poor 2016/17 season – only managing to finish sixth in the league. Nevertheless, they are the club with the largest revenue haul for the second year running. As Deloitte’s latest ranking shows, their total of €676.3m (£581.2m) keeps them above La Liga and Champions League winners Real Madrid, if only by a whisker.
Another example of on-pitch fortunes not reflecting the bank balance would be Arsenal. Despite the Gunners finishing fifth in the league and crashing out of the Champions league in the round of 16, they are sitting pretty in sixth place on this list thanks to €487.6m (£419m) in revenue. Their failure to qualify for the Champions League in 2017/18 will have consequences in this year’s accounts though.
