Real Madrid Tops the Chart for the Richest Club, Once Again

Deloitte Football Money League 2019 has ranked Real Madrid as the wealthiest club, while Barcelona are in second and Manchester United are in third.

How soon until a club reaches the €1 billion mark?

The royal club from Madrid generated a staggering €750m (£674.6m) in revenues last season in football, which represents a staggering increase compared to the season before (2016/17) when they earned €665.2m (£579.7m), according to online sportsbook news.

Barcelona jumped from third to second in the standings with reported revenues of €690.4m (£648.3m) during 2017/18, while last year’s leaders Man United lost their top spot as they were relegated to third place with revenues of ‘just’ €666m (£676.3m). Overall, the top 20 highest earning clubs achieved €8.3bn (£7.4bn) as combined revenue over the course of last season.

Dan Jones, a Deloitte partner and the head of the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, highlighted that football-related finances are as strong as ever, while Real Madrid’s ability to retain their status as football’s biggest juggernaut is justified by their huge on-field achievements over the last few years.

“European football remains a bull market, with annual revenue growth of almost €450m (approximately £390m),” Jones commented. “Real Madrid’s outstanding financial performance in 2017/18 is built on their long history of success on the pitch, most recently three consecutive Champions League titles. This has enabled the club to continue to drive commercial revenue as the appetite to partner with Europe’s most successful clubs remains stronger than ever.”

Can Real Madrid win a title this season?

Following their third consecutive Champions League victory (the first time a club has managed to do so in the modern era of the competition) under the legendary Zinedine Zidane, the Frenchman shocked fans across the globe by deciding to leave the club.

Since his departure, Real Madrid have greatly suffered on the pitch, finding it difficult to find their form. They first appointed Jose Lopetugei in the summer, but after a string of poor results, the club’s hierarchy sacked him in October, replacing him with their former Argentine player Santiago Solari, who has managed to somewhat restore confidence in the team.

Nonetheless, the Bernabeu side are still a long distance from the club they were over the previous three seasons under Zidane. After 20 rounds in La Liga, Real Madrid are in 3rd position on the table with 36 points – their arch-rivals Barcelona are 10 points ahead of them at the top of the table, while cross-town rivals Atletico Madrid are in second with 41 points.

This likely means that Real Madrid’s La Liga ambitions for this season are over, which is why they might turn all their attention to the competition that they have dominated and won four trophies in the last five years – the Champions League.

Online sportsbooks in Spain are ranking them as the underdogs for European title this season with odds of 13.00 (12/1), but they somehow always manage to surprise when put in a tough position, so their odds could go up once the competition gets going again in February.

Man City 4.50 (7/2) are still the favourites for the Champions League, while Barcelona 5.50 (9/2), Juventus 7.50 (13/2), PSG 8.00 (7/1) and Liverpool 9.00 (8/1) are behind on the odds chart.

(Check out our review about Bet365 Sportsbook for more info about the online betting site.)