Can u belive there the richest club and haven't won in a major trophy in like three years

Real Madrid named world's richest club

Real Madrid celebrates

Associated Press

2/15/2006 6:34:47 PM

LONDON (AP) - Real Madrid has supplanted Manchester United as the world's richest soccer club.

Madrid overtook the Red Devils for the first time at the top of the ''Football Money League,'' an independent report released by accountancy firm Deloitte on Wednesday.

United had been ranked the world's richest club since the report began nine seasons ago. Deloitte says it only uses revenue as its ranking and not the wealth of individual club owners.

Real Madrid increased its revenue by 17 per cent to 275.7 million euros ($379.4 million) for the 2004-05 season despite going a second straight year without a major trophy. United earned 246.4 million euros ($339 million Cdn) in the same period.

AC Milan was third with 234 million euros ($321.9 million Cdn), followed by Italian champion Juventus with 229.4 million euros ($315.6 million Cdn) and English champion Chelsea with 220.8 million euros ($303.8 million Cdn).

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''The mainstay of Real's revenue growth is not match-day revenues, as we have seen in many of the UK clubs, or broadcasting revenue, as we have seen - and continue to see - in Italy, but strong progress in realizing their commercial potential,'' the report said.

Madrid's revenue doubled in four years despite increasingly poor performances. It was second in last year's Spanish league and was eliminated from the Champions League at the first knockout stage.

Commercial revenue including sponsorship, merchandising and licensing contributed 45 per cent of Madrid's total income. Madrid made 51.8 million euros ($71.3 million Cdn) more in commercial revenue than Manchester United and 62 million euros ($85.3 million Cdn) more than FC Barcelona.

''Recruiting world-class `galactico' players has not necessarily delivered the anticipated on-pitch results, but their presence has facilitated a transformation in the club's financial performance,'' the report said.

Manchester United's revenue fell because of a reduction in broadcast income, partly because of its exit from the Champions League at the first knockout round. However, Deloitte said United was one of ''the foremost brands in the industry and are still clearly the most profitable club in terms of day to day operations.''

Three clubs dropped out of last year's top 20 - Marseille, Aston Villa and Rangers - and were replaced by Everton, Lyon and Valencia. Only 13 clubs have appeared in all nine editions of the report: Arsenal, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Inter, Juventus, Lazio, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Manchester United, AC Milan, AS Roma, Newcastle and Tottenham.

Deloitte don't consider a club's expenditure or what someone might pay to buy or invest in a club, an example being Chelsea under billionaire owner Roman Abramovich. The revenue is divided into match-day, broadcast and commercial sources.

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