Football’s financial giants battle it out to progress in the Champions League

The remaining clubs in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 have a total revenue of more than €4.3 billion, according to the Sports Business Group at Deloitte. With the second legs kicking off on Tuesday 8 March, the figures come from the latest Deloitte Football Money League, which profiles the highest earning clubs in world football, based on 2014/15 revenues.

According to the Deloitte Football Money League, the tie featuring clubs with the highest combined revenues is Arsenal versus FC Barcelona, with a total of €996.3 million, the highest ever for two clubs competing in a R16 tie. Significantly, the European tie with the second highest joint revenue will be in the Europa League, when Manchester United take on Liverpool - Money League clubs with total 2014/15 revenues of €911.3m.

Dan Jones, Partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, said: “FC Barcelona and Arsenal generate the second and seventh highest revenues in world club football. Participating and progressing in the Champions League delivers significant revenue benefits in terms of UEFA distributions and matchday revenue, and success on the pitch can also translate into commercial uplifts. FC Barcelona’s Champions League triumph last year resulted in UEFA distributions of €61m, an increase of €19.1m from the previous season. Similarly, Juventus’ successful run to the final last season helped the club to achieve total revenue growth of 16 per cent.”

The number of Money league clubs competing in this year’s R16 is lower than in previous years (10 compared with 13 in 2015). This is due to a record number of Premier League clubs (nine) appearing in the top 20 of the Football Money League this year, as well as historically consistent European contenders, Internazionale and AC Milan, not qualifying for UEFA competitions in the 2015/16 season.

Tim Bridge, Senior Manager in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, added: “A club’s performance in the Champions League can have a significant impact on its Money League ranking. After climbing to second in this year’s Football Money League, Barcelona will look for a successful run in the Champions League to close the gap on the top-ranked Money League club, Spanish rivals Real Madrid.”

“The combined 2014/15 revenues for the R16 clubs are more than €4 billion and nearly all of the R16 clubs recorded revenues of more than €125m, demonstrating that success both on and off the pitch often go hand-in-hand.”

• Four fixtures (Paris Saint-Germain vs Chelsea; Roma vs Real Madrid; Arsenal vs Barcelona; Juventus vs Bayern Munich) have total combined revenues of more than €750m;
• All the R16 clubs bar six – Benfica, FC Zenit, Gent, Wolfsburg, PSV Eindhoven and Dynamo Kiev – feature in the top 20 of the Deloitte Football Money League;
• Eight clubs from the Money League top 10 are in the R16, with just Manchester United and Liverpool missing;
• The Premier League and La Liga have the most clubs in the R16 with three each. The three Premier League clubs and the three La Liga clubs generated a total combined revenue of €2.64 billion in 2014/15;
• On top of the guaranteed UEFA distribution that clubs have already secured from reaching the R16, further progress in the competition can deliver significant incremental prize money, in particular should a club go on to win the competition. In addition, further progress could potentially deliver a greater share of market pool payments, as well as additional matchday revenue and potential commercial revenue benefits.

End

Notes to editors

2014/15 revenue of the round of 16 clubs

n/a: Revenue details for Benfica and PSV Eindhoven were available to us at the time of publishing Deloitte Football Money League 2016, but did not receive ranking positions.

Full revenue details for Dynamo Kiev, FC Zenit, Gent and Wolfsburg were not available to us at the time of publishing the Deloitte Football Money League 2016.

About the Deloitte Football Money League
This press release is based on the Deloitte Football Money League published in January 2016. As explained more fully in the publication, the revenue figures are extracted from the annual financial statements of the company or group in respect of each club, or other direct sources, for the 2014/15 season.

There are many ways of examining the relative wealth or value of football clubs. For the Deloitte Football Money League, revenue has been used as the most easily available and comparable measure of financial performance.

Revenue excludes player transfer fees, VAT and other sales related taxes. In a few cases we have made adjustments to total revenue figures to enable, in our view, a more meaningful comparison of the football business on a club-by-club basis.

We have not performed any verification work or audited any of the information contained in the financial statements or other sources in respect of each club for the purpose of the publication.

For the purpose of the international comparisons, unless otherwise stated, all figures for the 2014/15 season have been translated at the average exchange rate for the year ending 30 June 2015 (£1 = €1.3145). Comparative figures have been extracted from previous editions of the Deloitte Football Money League, or from relevant annual financial statements or other direct sources.

Later this year the Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance will be published, providing a more detailed analysis of the English and European football finance landscape.

About the Sports Business Group at Deloitte
Over the last 20 years Deloitte has developed a unique focus on the business of sport. Our specialist Sports Business Group offers a multi-disciplined expert service with dedicated people and skills capable of adding significant value to the business of sport. Whether it is benchmarking or strategic business reviews, operational turnarounds, revenue enhancement strategies or stadium/venue development plans, business planning, market and demand analysis, acquisitions, due diligence, expert witness, audits or tax planning; we have worked with more clubs, leagues, governing bodies, stadia developers, event organisers, commercial partners, financiers and investors than any other adviser.

For further information on our services you can access our website at www.deloitte.co.uk/sportsbusinessgroup

About Deloitte
In this press release references to Deloitte are references to Deloitte LLP, which is among the country's leading professional services firms.

Deloitte LLP is the United Kingdom member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (“DTTL”), a UK private company limited by guarantee, whose member firms are legally separate and independent entities. Please see www.deloitte.co.uk/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of DTTL and its member firms.

The information contained in this press release is correct at the time of going to press.

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