The key findings of this year’s Money League are:
- Manchester City top the Money League for first time with revenue of £571.1m (€644.9m), becoming only the fourth club to ever top the Money League. Revenue increased by £89.5m (€95.7m) as City climb five places (from sixth position last year).
- Since the first year of the Money League, covering the 1996/97 season, Manchester City’s revenue has grown from £12.7m to £571.1m over 25 years.
- Money League clubs missed out on well over €2 billion of revenue from the middle of the 2019/20 season to the end of the 2020/21 season, effectively taking revenue back to levels nearly five years ago.
- The continued world-leading financial resources of the English Premier League was evident again in this year’s Money League, with over half (11) of the top 20 clubs being from the Premier League, the highest proportion ever. The rest of the Money League was made up three clubs from Spain, two from each of Germany and Italy, and one from France and Russia respectively.
- Real Madrid (€640.7m, second) and Bayern Munich (€611.4m, third) were the only two clubs to generate in excess of €600m revenue in each of the 2019/20 and 2020/21 financial years, supported by strong on-pitch performances and their commercial profile.
- FC Barcelona (€582.1m) fall to fourth, its lowest position since the 2013/14 season, following both on-pitch and off-pitch challenges.
- Manchester United (€558m) retains its position in the top five (but in its lowest position in Money League history) by just €1.8m from Paris Saint-Germain (€556.2m), despite finishing second to Manchester City and as Runners-up in the UEFA Europa League.
- A slight decline in on-pitch performance from the previous two seasons’ highs saw Liverpool (€550.4m) fall two places to seventh in this year’s Money League, whilst Chelsea’s UEFA Champions League triumph ensured they retained eighth position (€493.1m).
- Tottenham Hotspur in particular will be looking to maximise the return of fans to stadia in the 2021/22 season and climb the Money League, following a drop to tenth position (€406.2m) behind Juventus (€433.5m, ninth).
- Despite an ever-changing economic environment, the top 14 clubs in this year’s Money League are consistent, but in a slightly rearranged order for the fourth successive year. Notably, this includes 11 of the 12 proposed European Super League founders (excluding
AC Milan), with Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain not amongst the original participants. - FC Internazionale Milano (€330.9m, 14th)closed the gap to Borussia Dortmund (€337.6m), Atlético de Madrid (€332.8m) in 12th and 13th respectively, after a return to the Champions League Group Stage and ending Juventus’ nine-year dominance of Serie A.
- Following successful domestic campaigns, both Leicester City (€255.5m) and West Ham United (€221.5m) re-enter the Money League with Leicester’s broadcast revenue alone higher than the total revenue of Aston Villa (€207.3m) in 20th position.
- Wolverhampton Wanderers (€219.2m) enter the Money League for the first time in 17th position, whilst Aston Villa return for the first time since the 2009/10 season.
The 2020/21 football season began, and ended, where the 2019/20 season left off: with the devastating impact of COVID-19 continuing to be felt around the world. Football, and sport more widely, was resilient, but not immune with clubs balancing obligations in respect of health and safety in order to fulfil fixtures and provide entertainment and ultimately complete the 2020/21 season.
Despite these ongoing challenges the football industry continued to demonstrate its resilience offering respite to many in such testing times. In this edition, we have continued to publish the Money League rankings as usual, but the impact of COVID-19 is stark with the lack of fans in stadia unsurprisingly causing the lowest matchday revenue in the 25 years of the publication, whilst broadcast revenue is at a record high as a result of deferrals in distributions related to the delayed 2019/20 season (completed in the 2020/21 financial year).