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By Tony Attwood
Football clubs have two needs: they want to win trophies and they want to make a profit.
The success or otherwise of the top clubs are measured each year in the Deloitte Football Money League. Coming high up in the money league doesn’t necessarily bring football success, but since for most clubs success comes from being successful in transfers, the the two area clearly linked.
The Deloitte Football Money League ranks the twenty top football clubs in terms of the money they earn from football. It comes out in February each year so we are quite a way behind in discussing it now, but well, I’ve never pretended to be that up to date. And we can always have another look early next year.
The prime measure of the clubs is their revenue which is broken down into broadcast revenue, matchday income and commercial income. Overall Arsenal are ranked 7th in the world listings.
The data below comes from Deloitte Football Money League published on Wikipedia. You can find the full listing here..
| 2026 Rank | Club | Revenue in € million | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Broadcast | Matchday | Commerce | ||
| 1 | Real Madrid | 1161 | 334.9 | 232.5 | 593.6 |
| 2 | Barcelona | 974.8 | 242.8 | 209.7 | 522.3 |
| 3 | Bayern Munich | 860.6 | 251.9 | 147.2 | 461.5 |
| 4 | Paris Saint-Germain | 837 | 293.2 | 176.6 | 367.1 |
| 5 | Liverpool | 836.1 | 320.7 | 149.8 | 365.7 |
| 6 | Manchester City | 829.3 | 331.5 | 89.3 | 408.4 |
| 7 | Arsenal | 821.7 | 324.6 | 183.1 | 314.0 |
What we can see is that the top four are from countries where one or two clubs dominate all football – Spain, Germany and France. After that comes three English clubs and those three are in fact followed by three more – Manchester United, Tottenham Hots and Chelsea.
To show the gaps that have emerged in football’s finances, it turns out that Atletico Madrid have a total revenue that is half that of Real Madrid, and they are just 13th the league with a revenue pf 454.5 million euros. So these giant clubs stretch out way above the rest.
What we can also see is that Arsenal have the third highest broadcast revenue which reflects the way the British and to a degree the European market has adopted English football. Arsenal are also third in terms of matchday income but slip down the league when it comes to commercial income. Here we can see that a club like Manchester City which has major international appeal because of its ownership has stretched its income some way beyond Arsenal’s. Indeed Milan and Juventus also have higher commercial income than Arsenal, and this is undoubtedly an area that the Arsenal owners are focussing on at the time.
If we look at matchday income – which is in fact traditional football – people going to a match or paying to watch the game on a limited circulation TV, we find that Arsenal are third in the world. Real Madrid has a revenue in this regard that is 89% above that of Arsenal.
The figures are in may ways dependent on two things. One of course is the club’s performance in the competitions in which they play – and so when the next round of figures are released we can expect Arsenal do have a much better showing as fans around the world will have been buying memorabilia to celebrate last season’s champions achievement. The other is worldwide brand recognition.
Arsenal have been underachieving in this regard even in relation to Tottenham Hotspur, which is hard to believe, and shows just how much power marketing can have even when it is based on a 17th place finish. Given that 17th place was repeated last season, and indeed that is where they sit at the moment we might see their income in this regard slip considerably.
And this shows us the fundamental difference between Arsenal and Manchester City, which has a matchday income about half that of Arsenal. Arsenal like most English teams has a clear identity with its neighbourhood, which of course ManC did have at one time but now lacks. But overtaking ManC can be hard quite simply because these figures are based on image rather than performance and that of course is what ManC excels in.
Commerce in fact is probably the area where Arsenal have the best chance of increasing its income, and given the ownership of the club this is most certainly where we should expect there to be considerable growth in the year to come – added of course to the achievement of winning the PRemier League last season.
