The global appeal of the Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool make them the UK’s top earning clubs – according to Deloitte’s Sports Business Group.
Despite Chelsea’s success in the WSL, United and City are also the top UK earners among the Women’s clubs too.
However, in both men’s and women’s football, Spanish teams take top position.
Real Madrid has overtaken City in top position, with £723m. PSG is in third, Barcelona comes fourth, with Manchester United slipping a place to fifth and Liverpool the biggest faller, moving from third last year, to seventh.
Newcastle is the only other Northern club to make the top 20, rising from 20th to 17th.
The 27th edition of the Deloitte Football Money League looks at matchday, broadcast and commercial income. In total clubs earned a record income of €10.5bn, an increase of 14% compared to the €9.2bn in 2021/22.
This was driven mainly by match day and commercial, with commercial overtaking broadcast revenues.
| Position (last year’s position) | Club | 2022/23 Revenue (£m) (2021/22 Revenue) |
| 1 (2) | Real Madrid | 723.0 (604.4) |
| 2 (1) | Manchester City | 718.2 (619.1) |
| 3 (5) | Paris Saint-Germain | 697.2 (554.1) |
| 4 (7) | FC Barcelona | 695.8 (540.4) |
| 5 (4) | Manchester United | 648.5 (583.2) |
| 6 (6) | Bayern Munich | 647.0 (553.5) |
| 7 (3) | Liverpool | 593.8 (594.3) |
| 8 (9) | Tottenham Hotspur | 549.2 (442.8) |
| 9 (8) | Chelsea | 512.5 (481.3) |
| 10 (10) | Arsenal | 463.1 (367.1) |
| 11 (11) | Juventus | 376.0 (339.4) |
| 12 (13) | Borussia Dortmund | 365.3 (302.4) |
| 13 (16) | AC Milan | 335.1 (218) |
| 14 (14) | FC Internazionale Milano | 329.5 (261.2) |
| 15 (12) | Atlético de Madrid | 316.6 (333.6) |
| 16 (n/a) | Eintracht Frankfurt | 255.3 (176.3) |
| 17 (20) | Newcastle United | 250.3 (179.7) |
| 18 (15) | West Ham United | 239.2 (255.1) |
| 19 (n/a) | Napoli | 232.8 (132.5) |
| 20 (n/a) | Olympique Marseille | 224.7 (201.2) |
“Another record-breaking year for Money League clubs represents the ongoing financial might of the football industry. A high demand for live sport is pointing towards further growth for commercial and matchday revenues, in particular,” said Tim Bridge, lead partner in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group.
“As clubs appear to no longer be able to rely on exponential broadcast revenue growth, creating a more commercially focused business model will support them to achieve greater control over their financial stability. This may include developing new merchandise, or non-match day events such as concerts to create new commercial offerings.”
Looking at the Women’s tables, the average revenues generated by 15 of the biggest women’s clubs in European football rose 61%, but at €4.3m it is still dwarfed by the men’s game.
FC Barcelona Femení remained at the summit of women’s football in Europe in the 2022/23 season, reporting €13.4m in revenue, a year-on-year increase of 74%.
Manchester United Women retained their position in second place, with revenues of €8m, driven by a strong commercial performance (€6m). Meanwhile, Real Madrid Femenino rose to third place as it reported €7.4m in revenue, an increase of 416% over previous year.
Manchester City Women (€5.3m) took fourth position with a year-on-year revenue increase of 5%, one of only three clubs (alongside Paris Saint-Germain Féminine and Everton Women) in the top 15 to report less than double-digit revenue growth.
| Position | Club | 2022/23 Revenue (£m) |
| 1 | FC Barcelona Femení | 11.6 |
| 2 | Manchester United Women | 7.0 |
| 3 | Real Madrid Femenino | 6.5 |
| 4 | Manchester City Women | 4.6 |
| 5 | Arsenal Women | 4.6 |
| 6 | Chelsea Women | 3.5 |
| 7 | Paris Saint-Germain Féminine | 3.2 |
| 8 | Eintracht Frankfurt Frauen | 3.1 |
| 9 | FC Bayern Frauen | 2.7 |
| 10 | Tottenham Hotspur Women | 2.3 |
| 11 | Liverpool Women | 1.8 |
| 12 | SL Benfica Feminino | 1.3 |
| 13 | Everton Women | 1.1 |
| 14 | West Ham United Women | 1.1 |
| 15 | Juventus Women | 1.0 |
“Significant levels of financial growth were recorded in the 2022/23 season across the top-tiers of European women’s football. A rise in the number of women’s matches playing at clubs’ main stadia boosted matchday revenues, while increased viewership and individual partnerships helped to accelerate the commercialisation of the game,” added Amy Clarke, women’s sport lead in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group.
“Women’s football is beginning to tell the tale of growth, but that growth is not confined by a single business model. Each club is exploring its own unique way to maximise revenues within the current structure of the game.
“Given that the women’s game within the mainstream is at a formative stage, there is a real opportunity to define the sport globally through innovative thinking across all aspects of the game, including player welfare, commercial relationships, governance and business models.”
