The Deloitte Football Money League 2003-04
Manchester United are still football’s richest club according to the Football Money League 2003-04 Report published by consultants Deloitte this week.Manchester United are still football’s richest club according to the Football Money League 2003-04 Report published by consultants Deloitte this week.
Deloitte’s Sports Business Group have issued a list of the top twenty earning clubs and they anticipate that their combined income will exceed £2billion this year.
Their key findings are:
- Manchester United maintain top position for the eighth year in a row with income of £172m
- In second place Real Madrid have halved the gap between themselves and Manchester United
- Chelsea and Barcelona are the biggest climbers, up from tenth to fourth position and thirteenth to seventh position respectively
- AC Milan, Chelsea, Juventus, Arsenal and Barcelona are also expected to challenge strongly for a top three position in future seasons
- Bayern Munich and Schalke 04 slip down the Money League despite the German corporate market’s significant contributions to the Bundesliga clubs
The Deloitte Football Money League for 2003-04 is:
| Pos | Prev | Club | Income (£million) |
| 1 | 1 | Manchester United | 171.5 |
| 2 | 4 | Real Madrid | 156.3 |
| 3 | 3 | AC Milan | 147.2 |
| 4 | 10 | Chelsea | 143.7 |
| 5 | 2 | Juventus | 142.4 |
| 6 | 7 | Arsenal | 115 |
| 7 | 13 | Barcelona | 112 |
| 8 | 6 | Internazionale | 110.3 |
| 9 | 5 | Bayern Munich | 110.1 |
| 10 | 8 | Liverpool | 92.3 |
| 11 | 9 | Newcastle United | 90.5 |
| 12 | 11 | AS Roma | 72 |
| 13 | 18 | Celtic | 69 |
| 14 | 16 | Tottenham Hotspur | 66.3 |
| 15 | 15 | SS Lazio | 65.8 |
| 16 | (n/a) | Manchester City | 61.9 |
| 17 | 14 | Schalke 04 | 60.5 |
| 18 | (n/a) | Olympique Marseille | 58.3 |
| 19 | (n/a) | Rangers | 57.1 |
| 20 | (n/a) | Aston Villa | 55.9 |
For a further explanation or to apply for a copy of the report, please click here.
If the money league was to have a relegation zone, sadly, it would seem two famous clubs would be prime candidates.
Borussia Dortmund - the 1997 Champions League winners - are the only Bundesliga publicly-listed club on the stock exchange, and they are on the brink of bankruptcy after another poor financial year.
Although they have the highest average attendances in German football and one of the top in European football with 75,000 fans turning up to the Westfalen stadium every week, Dortmund are set to reveal massive losses of £47.5 million for the financial year ending in June.
The story is even worse in Switzerland where their top flight will be missing a club when the season resumes this weekend following confirmation that Servette are no longer in business.
Reuters reports that the Genevan side announced on Wednesday that a late bid to rescue the bankrupt club had failed to materialise.
Formed 115 years ago, Servette were the only Swiss club never to have been relegated from the top division.
Matters off the pitch were to ensure the club’s collapse, however, following the club’s takeover by former player’s agent Marc Roger.
The Frenchman ran up debts of more than ten million Swiss francs after authorising the acquisition last summer of 21 players, including French World Cup winner Christian Karembeu.
Many of the players, including Karembeu, have since left the club after their wages stopped being paid.
Servette Geneva will continue to exist only as an under-21 side, playing in Switzerland’s lower divisions.
A Swiss league spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday that the top division will resume play as planned this weekend, but with nine clubs instead of ten.
Points taken from matches against Servette will still be valid as every club in the division had played the Genevan side twice before the winter break.