HispanicBusiness

Real Madrid became the first club to generate more than 500 million euros (665 million dollars) in revenue with a 2011-12 season result of 512.6 million euros, financial services company Deloitte said on Thursday.

Deloitte said in its annual Football Money League report that the reigning Spanish champions Madrid topped the list the eighth straight year ahead of Spanish rivals Barcelona (483 million euros) and Manchester United (395.9).

Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City, AC Milan, Liverpool and Juventus complete the top 10 which features five clubs from the English Premier League.

Deloitte said that revenue of 4.8 billion euros, an increase of 10 per cent, from the top 20 clubs marked one quarter of the entire European revenue in the sport.

The report said that Real and Barca profited from decentralised Spanish television rights in which each club can negotiate their own deal. In other countries television deals are on behalf of the leagues.

Deloitte also said that the continuing growth showed that top football clubs still make big money from television and sponsors despite the difficult economic times.