LONDON, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- English Premier League side Manchester United has lost its crown as the world's highest earning football team, figures revealed Thursday.
Figures come from the 22nd edition of the Football Money League by the Sports Business Group at the global accountancy firm Deloitte, show Manchester United has slipped to third place. Real Madrid has regained the top spot followed by Spanish rivals Barcelona in second place. Real last topped the list in the 2014/15 season.
Real Madrid is the first club to generate more than 750 million euros (851 million U.S. dollars) in revenues.
Barcelona's revenue reached 690.4 million euros (782 million U.S. dollars), while Manchester United generated 666 million euros (755 million U.S. dollars). It means the three wealthiest clubs in this year's Football Money League generated 2.1 billion euros (2.38 billion U.S. dollars) of collective revenue. This is more than double the aggregate revenue of the same top three clubs 10 years ago.
The Deloitte study shows that the 20 highest earning football clubs in the world generated a record 8.3 billion euros (9.42 billion U.S. dollars) of combined revenue in the 2017/18 football season, an increase of 6 percent on the previous year.
Of the total combined revenue for the top 20 Money League clubs, broadcast income remains the largest individual income stream, comprising 43 percent of total revenue.
Deloitte point out that a noticeable trend in this year's edition has been the growth in commercial revenue for clubs at the top of the Money League, which now represents 40 percent of total revenue. The revenue generated on matchdays remains unchanged at 17 percent.
Making up the top 10 are, in fourth place Bayern Munich, followed by Manchester City, Paris Saint Germain, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and in 10th place Tottenham Hotspur.
