Manchester United have fallen to their lowest position in the annual Deloitte Football Money League rankings, which have been topped by Real Madrid.
Madrid generated a record €1.2 billion ($1.4 billion) in revenue, with the top 20 teams represented clearing €12.4 billion ($14.5 billion) when combined, also a record.
The €12.4 billion figure represents an 11 percent increase in total revenue over the previous Money League season.
United fell to eighth place Money League, with Liverpool the highest-earning English club for the first time in fifth place. Barcelona were second, up from fifth, Bayern Munich third and Paris Saint-Germain fourth to round out the top five.
Two new teams entered the top 20, with Bundesliga side Stuttgart coming in at 18th with €296.3 million ($345 million) in revenue, and Portuguese club Benfica generating €283.4 million ($330 million) to finish 19th. Among the three sources of revenue, the Deloitte report assigned commercial revenue as the main source of income (43 percent of the total). However, matchday revenue was the fastest-growing source (16 percent year-over-year, accounting for 19 percent of the total).
The remaining 38 percent comes from broadcasting rights revenue, which also grew by 10 percent. The 10 teams involved in the Club World Cup last summer saw their broadcast revenues rise 17 percent.
United were once regarded as the blueprint for commercial success in football and have topped the Money League in 10 of its 29 editions, most recently in 2017.
However, United are down in eighth in the 2026 table, in part due to broadcast revenue dropping from €258 million ($301 million) to €206 million ($240 million) because of their absence from the Champions League in 2024-25.
The club is set to generate even less matchday revenue in the current season due to their total absence from European competition, and their failure to go past the first hurdle in either domestic cup means they will play only 20 competitive fixtures at Old Trafford in 2025-26.
Tim Bridge, the Sports Business Group Leader at Deloitte, told the Press Association: “The clubs with the biggest football club brands and position in the market have an opportunity to broaden their reach and offer more to fans on a matchday, offer more to fans on a non-matchday, and become a more 365-days-a-year touch point. United are probably only just starting that journey now, because of the reported stadium development.
“If you went back 10 or 15 years, and you looked at Manchester United’s matchday revenue it was the industry leader. If you looked at their ability to generate commercial revenue, it was the benchmark by which everybody then went to market and set their strategy. I don’t think that remains the case.
“The opportunity remains for Manchester United. They are arguably still the biggest global football club brand, and therefore they have the opportunity to maximise that in a way that is only possible for a select few.
“But to do that requires fit-for-purpose facilities. As the industry evolves, clubs should ask themselves whether there is a need to rethink how they engage with fans and how that relationship works. With reports of the new stadium, it is clear they have started to do some of that, so it’s very clear they’re thinking in that way. Their timing of making that change is behind Real Madrid and Barcelona, but the opportunity remains.”
United are the fourth-placed English club in the 2026 Money League behind Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal, who are fifth, sixth and seventh overall, respectively.
Liverpool’s return to the Champions League in 2024-25 helped them to a seven percent increase in commercial revenue from non-matchday events at Anfield.
It is the first time there has not been an English team in the Money League top four, with Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern and PSG all benefiting from going deep in the newly-expanded Champions League and the expanded FIFA Club World Cup in the summer.
Premier League teams may expect to fare better generally in the 2027 Money League, which will be the first to reflect the new broadcast deal which runs to 2029, but Bridge said the best-performing clubs would continue to be those who match on-field success with diversification off it.
“The trick to staying [in the top five] is maintaining both of those. It used to be you only had to maintain one of them. Now, in 2026, we’re at a point where the highest revenue generating clubs are probably broader than football,” he said.
Manchester City’s sixth place was their lowest since the Covid-19-impacted season of 2019-20.
In all, nine Premier League clubs made it into the top 20 of the Money League, with Tottenham (ninth), Chelsea (10th), Aston Villa (14th), Newcastle (17th) and West Ham (20th) all represented.
Information from PA was used in this report.
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