Deloitte Study Reveals Football Clubs' '11-12 Revenue, Spanish Clubs In Top Two Spots

The 16th edition of the Football Money League report from business advisory firm Deloitte, which details football clubs' revenue for '11-12, showed that Real Madrid has become the first club in any sport to surpass the €500M revenue mark in a single year. The Spanish club achieved a €33.1M (7%) increase in revenue to €512.6M, and claimed the top position in the Money League for a record-tying eighth year, matching ManU's reign from '96-97 to '03-04. The combined revenues of the world's 20 highest earning football clubs have grown 10% on the previous year to reach €4.8B in '11-12. Deloitte Sports Business Group partner Dan Jones said: "Real have led the way in the phenomenal rate of revenue growth achieved by the game's top clubs, with the double digit (10%) increase by the top 20 clubs representing continued strong performance in these tough economic times." Jones added, "Whilst eight of the top 20 clubs experienced a drop in revenue in 2011-12, in most cases this was due to less successful on-pitch performances in European club competitions, rather than wider recessionary impacts." For the fifth successive year, the clubs comprising the top six places in the Money League -- Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, ManU, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Arsenal -- remain the same. FC Barcelona again claims second place in the rankings to complete a Spanish one-two for the fourth successive year. There is one new entry to the Money League this year, with Newcastle United replacing Spanish club Valencia. Once again, the EPL contributes the most clubs to the Money League with seven clubs in the top 20 rankings, five of which appear in the top 10. Manchester City (7th) is this year's joint highest climbers, along with Borussia Dortmund (11th) and Napoli (15th), moving up five places and claiming a top 10 position for the first time (Deloitte).