Football's rich clubs by Deloitte

Got €500m to spare? Here's how your team might look made up of the most expensive players from Europe's 13 richest clubs:

FORWARDS: Ronaldinho (Barcelona) Henry (Barcelona) Ronaldo (Man Utd) MIDFIELD: Kaka (Milan), Vieira (Inter), Juninho (Lyon), Gerrard (Liverpool) DEFENCE: Lahm (Bayern Munich), Terry (Chelsea), Cannavaro (Real Madrid) Alves (Seville) GOALKEEPER: Buffon (Juventus) SUBS: De Rossi (Roma), Owen (Newcastle)

The fascinating Football Money League, an annual report from Deloitte published since 2006, reveals that the two Spanish giants currently top the European league table for "turnover from day-to-day football operations". Real Madrid retained top spot at the end of the 2005/06 season and Barcelona was up from fourth to second place. Their respective earnings were €292m and €259m.

The largest UK clubs on this scale of success are Manchester Utd, fourth with earnings of €242m in 2005/06, and Chelsea (sixth, €221m). Italy has four clubs in the top 20 although the UK is dominant in this respect with nine of the top 20.

But a glance at the bottom of Deloitte's top 20 reveals the gulf between the elite and the rest: West Ham, in 19th position, only earned €87m in 2005/06 and its status in the English Premiership, let alone in the Deloitte Top 20, is severely threatened by relegation in 2006/07. (The Hammers last game of the season is away to Manchester United, the likely champions this year.....)

The new three-year television rights deals (for 2007-2011) will boost English Premiership incomes from broadcasting by no less than 70%. The TV rights account for at least a third of most big clubs' income, with other media-related incomes (sponsorship, merchandising, licensing) contributing another third or more. This means that 'matchday' income can account for as little as 25% of club revenues (eg Real Madrid) although a bigger stadium can restore the balance in favour of matchday revenues, the traditional sign of a club's financial strength.

For Manchester Utd, matchday still brings in over 40% of its revenues and its Quadrant expansion of the Old Trafford ground has taken ground capacity up to 76,000. Chelsea will struggle to compete, despite the generosity of its owner, Roman Abramovich, as long as its capacity remains at 42,000. Across London, Arsenal's revenues have soared during 2006/07 thanks to the club's move from Highbury (capacity, 38,500) to the new 60,000-seater Emirates stadium.

Having retained the old Highbury site to build over 700 houses and flats, Arsenal FC has moved into property development, an interesting move considering the number of property developers (or builders) that have occupied board positions in football over the years. It is also an interesting model for other clubs with prime inner-city stadiums to consider. In the lower leagues, the pressure to sell up and quit the inner city is growing all the time as urban property values rise.

Source Notes: Football Money League is free after registration at www.deloitte.co.uk. Deloitte also publishes the Annual Review of Football Finance.