Manchester United have fallen to their lowest position in the annual Deloitte Football Money League, which is currently topped by Real Madrid.
Deloitte Football Money League is an annual publication that profiles the highest revenue-generating clubs in world football.
Real Madrid generated a record revenue of 1.2 billion euros (around Rp23.8 trillion). A total of 20 top teams generated a combined revenue of 12.4 billion euros (about Rp246.3 trillion) which is also a record.
The figure of 12.4 billion euros represents an increase in total revenue of 11 percent compared to the previous Money League season.
Manchester United dropped to eighth in the Money League, with Liverpool becoming the highest-earning English club for the first time in fifth place.
Barcelona is in second place, up from fifth. Then, Bayern Munich in third place and Paris Saint-Germain in fourth place to complete the top five.
Two new teams entered the top 20. The Bundesliga club Stuttgart is in 18th place with revenue of 296.3 million euros (around Rp5.8 trillion). Then, the Portuguese club Benfica generated 283.4 million euros (around Rp5.6 trillion) to finish in 19th place.
Among the three sources of revenue, Deloitte's report identifies commercial revenue as the main source of revenue (43 percent of the total).
However, revenue from matches is the fastest growing source of revenue (16 percent year-on-year, accounting for 19 percent of the total).
The rest, 38 percent, came from broadcasting rights, which also grew by 10 percent. The ten teams involved in the 2025 Club World Cup last summer saw a 17 percent increase in broadcasting revenue.
Manchester United were once considered the blueprint for commercial success in football and have topped the Money League in 10 of 29 editions, most recently in 2017.
However, Manchester United are ranked eighth in the 2026 table, partly because broadcasting revenue fell from 258 million euros (around Rp5.1 trillion) to 206 million euros (around Rp4 trillion) due to their absence from the Champions League in the 2024/2025 season.
The Red Devils are expected to generate fewer matchday revenues this season due to their absence from European tournaments and their failure to get past the first round in both domestic cups.
This means they will only play 20 competitive matches at Old Trafford in the 2025/2026 season.
"Clubs with the biggest brands and positions of football clubs in the market have the opportunity to expand their reach and offer more to fans on match days, offer more to fans outside match days, and become more active contact points throughout the year."
"Manchester United may be just starting that journey now with the stadium development reports. If you look back 10 or 15 years ago, and you look at Manchester United's match revenue, they are the leaders of the industry."
"If you look at their ability to generate commercial revenue, that's the yardstick everyone uses to enter the market and set their strategy. I think that's no longer the case."
"The opportunity remains for Manchester United. They are arguably still the biggest global brand in football clubs."
"Because of that, they have the opportunity to maximize it in a way that only a select few clubs can."
"However, to do that, it requires facilities that are in line with the purpose. As the industry evolves, clubs have to ask themselves if they need to rethink how they interact with fans and how that relationship goes."
"With the reports on the new stadium, it's clear that they have started to do some of that. So, it's very clear that they are thinking in that direction. The time they made that change was behind Real Madrid and Barcelona, but the opportunity is still there," said Tim Bridge, Head of the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, to the Press Association.
Manchester United are ranked fourth among English clubs in the 2026 Money League behind Liverpool, Manchester City, and Arsenal, who are fifth, sixth, and seventh respectively.
Liverpool's return to the Champions League in 2024/2025 helped them increase commercial revenue by seven percent from non-match events at Anfield.
It is the first time that no English team has made the Money League's top four, with Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and PSG all benefiting from advancing far in the newly expanded Champions League and expanded 2025 Club World Cup in the summer.
English League teams may hope to perform better overall in the 2027 Money League, which will first reflect the new broadcasting deal in place until 2029.
However, Bridge said the best performing clubs will continue to be those that align success on the pitch with diversification off it.
"The key to staying (in the top five) is to maintain both. In the past, you only needed to maintain one of them."
"Now, in 2026, we are at a point where the highest revenue-generating clubs are probably more widespread than football," he said.
Manchester City's sixth place is their lowest ranking since the 2019/2020 season which was affected by Covid-19.
Overall, nine English Premier clubs made it into the top 20 of the Money League, with Tottenham (ninth), Chelsea (20th), Aston Villa (14th), Newcastle (17th), and West Ham (20th).
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
