Zurich: Manchester United enjoyed the biggest revenue of any European club in the last financial year after a 32 per cent increase propelled them above Real Madrid and Barcelona, Uefa said in an annual report published on Tuesday.
The European Club Football Landscape report said revenues among Europe’s 700-odd top-flight clubs totalled euro 18.5 billion (Dh83.1 billion) for 2016, compared to euro 16.9 billion the year before and euro 2.8 billion in 1996.
However, the report acknowledged that nearly half that amount — euro 9.1 billion — was generated by 30 clubs and that the financial gap between the elite ones and the rest was increasing.
English Premier League television revenues were now such that mid-table Bournemouth earned the same as three-time European champions Inter Milan.
United’s revenue for 2016 was euro 689 million, compared to euro 521 million in 2015, the report said.
United were followed by Barcelona and Real Madrid (both euro 620 million), Bayern Munich (euro 592 million), Paris St-Germain (euro 542 million) and Manchester City euro 533 million).
United’s operating profit of euro 232 million was also the highest followed by Real Madrid, PSG, Bayern Munich, Arsenal and City.
United was also burdened with the highest net debt of euro 561 million, ahead of Benfica, Inter Milan, Juventus and Liverpool.
The report confirmed that the English Premier League enjoys by far the highest revenues in Europe, averaging euro 244.4 million euros per club.
Next was Germany’s Bundesliga with euro 149.6 million per club followed by Spain (euro 126.3 million) and Italy (euro 100.2 million) Revenues fell dramatically elsewhere, even in traditional football nations such as the Netherlands (euro 26.7 million) and Portugal (euro 20.3 million).
“Once more, we cannot help but note that the polarisation of commercial and sponsorship revenues between the top tier of clubs and the rest is accelerating,” Uefa President Aleksander Ceferin said.
“As the guardians of the game, Uefa must ensure that football remains competitive even as financial gaps are augmented by globalisation and technological change.”
Uefa analyst Sefton Perry said that “only a limited number of clubs are able to fully exploit the enormous commercial opportunities offered by the global market”.
Sixteen of the top 20 clubs in terms of domestic broadcast revenues were English with Manchester United top on euro 146 million, edging out Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Bournemouth earned euro 99 million, level with Inter Milan who, along with Juventus, were the only Serie A side in the top 20.
The report confirmed that transfer spending reached record levels of almost euro 5.6 billion in the European summer of 2017, including six of the top 20 most expensive transfers ever recorded.
Arsenal were the club who made the most from paying fans. Uefa said their yield of euro 97.8 per spectator was the highest in Europe, followed by Chelsea, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Barcelona, Galatasaray, Manchester City and West Ham United.
