Manchester, March 22 (BUS): Manchester City topped the Deloitte Football League for the first time as the world’s highest-earning club in the 2020-21 season affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Former leaders Barcelona slipped to fourth in the 25th edition of the table, the Spanish club’s lowest since 2013-14, Reuters reported.
The Abu Dhabi-owned city, with revenues of 644.9 million euros ($710.81 million) and a number of sponsors associated with the owners, climbed six places.
The Premier League champions and current leaderboard are the fourth club to top the Mali league after Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United.
Real Madrid came in second place (640.7 million euros) and Bayern Munich (611.4 million euros) in third place. Manchester United came in fifth, its lowest level so far, Paris Saint-Germain in sixth, and Liverpool in seventh.
European champions Chelsea, now for sale, finished eighth.
It was eleven of the top 20 teams of the Premier League, the highest percentage ever, with Wolverhampton Wanderers entering for the first time in 17th place.
“The impact of COVID-19 is stark with fewer fans in stadiums, unsurprisingly, causing the lowest match-day revenue in 25 years of publication,” the report said.
“Broadcast revenue hit a record high as a result of distribution delays related to the 2019/20 late season.”
The report said that financial league clubs lost more than two billion euros in revenue from the middle of the 2019/20 season until the end of the 2020/21 season, resulting in revenue returning to its nearly five-year levels.
“Looking at Money League 2023 covering the 2021/22 season, we expect revenue for Money League clubs to reach record levels, as they recover from the effects of the pandemic and drive towards collective revenue of 10 billion euros,” she added. .
Meanwhile, the Premier League’s broadcasting rights values are set to move further away from the other “Big Five” European leagues from 2022-23.
And for the first time ever, all Money League clubs have a women’s team as well.