Spanish football giant Real Madrid has claimed first place in Deloitte's annual Football Money League for 2024 as the leading revenue-generating club, overtaking rivals such as Manchester City. That's in addition to Forbes valuing the club as the most valuable soccer team on its Valuations List at $6.07 billion in figures published in May 2023.
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The report gives Real Madrid revenue for 2022/23 of $905.3 million, reflecting a 16% increase in revenue compared to 2021/22 and allowing it to rise to first place. That was accompanied by a moderately successful campaign on the field, with four trophies in the Copa del Rey, the Spanish Super Cup, the European Super Cup and the Club World Cup. However, the team was left without the two major titles available, the UEFA Champions League and LALIGA.
Despite that, revenue has increased across the board, driven by growth in several areas. The only area in which Real Madrid has not increased its income is in broadcasting, where the decrease was 2.2 million dollars and stood at 333.2 million dollars. In particular, there is a 26% increase in Real Madrid's commercial income to $438.8 million. Only other European superpowers, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, have higher commercial revenues, with Bayern recording the highest at $456.3 million.
Another important factor has been the evolution of income per day. Here, Real Madrid is in fifth place with $122 million, behind Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. The increase of 39% compared to last season reflects the progress of the club in the works it is carrying out at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. The stadium opened to almost full capacity in 2023/24, making available the lower sections of the south and west stands which were closed in 2022/23. Real Madrid will expect even higher matchday revenues based solely on ticket sales, in addition to growing fan revenues. That will be an important benefit for the club, which has yet to recover the income from the day before the pandemic, which in 2018/19 was $157.9 million.
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Third in revenue for the women's team
Of the 20 highest-ranked soccer clubs in Deloitte's analysis, Real Madrid ranks third for total revenue generated by the women's team at $8.1 million. The figure is impressive considering that the club did not have female representation until the summer of 2020. At the top is Real Madrid's eternal rival, Barcelona, which leads Europe on and off the field with 14.6 million dollars of income in 2022/23, in addition to winning the Spanish Super Cup, the Iberdrola League and the UEFA Champions League.
