Picture Credit: Premier League
In a season impacted by the outbreak and the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is Premier League giants Manchester City who have topped the Deloitte Football Money League for the first time. This implies that City have been found to be the world's highest revenue-generating club in 2020-21.
The achievement looks far more significant in the case of comparative analysis. Barcelona, who had achieved the highest revenue-generating distinction last season, have dropped to the fourth position this year. To put things into perspective, this is the La Liga club's lowest position in the table since the 2013-14 season.
In contrast to Barca, the Abu Dhabi-owned City, who have reported revenues of 644.9 million euros ($710.81 million), jumped as many as six places to take the top spot in this list.
"The impact of COVID-19 is stark with the lack of fans in stadia unsurprisingly causing the lowest matchday revenue in the 25 years of the publication," the report said as quoted by Reuters.
"Broadcast revenue is at a record high as a result of deferrals in distributions related to the delayed 2019/20 season," the report added.
Notably, the reigning English league champions, as well as the current leaders and frontrunners to lift the trophy, have become only the fourth to top the Money League after Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United. While City came first, Real Madrid (640.7 million euros) finished second and Bayern Munich (611.4 million) came third. Manchester United ended fifth which is their lowest ranking to date. Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
”Looking ahead to the 2023 Money League covering the 2021/22 season, we expect revenue of Money League clubs to reach record levels, as they bounce back from the effects of the pandemic and push towards collective revenues of 10 billion euros,” the report noted.