Real and Barcelona, queens of Europe with two billion in revenue

European top football in the 2024/25 season set a new turnover record. In fact, the top 20 clubs surveyed by Deloitte's Money League generated more than EUR 12.4 billion in turnover for the first time (net of capital gains from football markets), up 11% on the 2023/24 season, when they stopped at EUR 11.2 billion.

Revenues from commercial activities (EUR 5.3 billion) reached record levels and became the first source of revenue. On the other hand, 2.4 billion were collected through the box office and stadium exploitation, 16% more than last year. This is the fastest growing item of state revenues. However, revenue from TV rights also rose, which was up 10%, accounting for 38% of the total revenue. Television revenues contributed EUR 4.7 billion to the overall turnover, leveraging the increased resources distributed by Uefa with the expansion of the three major men's competitions, in particular the Champions League, whose new formats debuted just last year, and partly on the extraordinary income from the Fifa Club World Cup with ten clubs from the Money League participating in the tournament played last summer in the United States.

I giocatori del Real Madrid posano prima dell'inizio della partita di calcio della Liga spagnola tra Real Madrid e Levante a Madrid, Spagna, sabato 17 gennaio 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)

If this is the general picture painted by the Deloitte Football Money League 2026, an annual publication that profiles the revenues of the best performing clubs in world football, the ranking sees Real Madrid at the top. After becoming the first football club to generate €1 billion during the 2023/24 season, Real surpassed itself by generating almost €1.2 billion in the 2024/25 season. The Blancos generated 594 million in commercial revenues (merchandising and sponsorship) and are also first in stadium revenues (232 million), benefiting from the inauguration of the new Bernabeu (realised with investments of around two billion).

I giocatori del Barcellona posano prima dell'inizio della partita di calcio della fase iniziale della Champions League tra lo Slavia Praga e il Barcellona a Praga, Repubblica Ceca, mercoledì 21 gennaio 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

For the first time since the 2019/20 season, FC Barcelona (second) returned to the top three clubs with revenues of 975 million, despite continuing to play their home matches away from the Spotify Camp Nou.

Also on the podium was Bayern Munich with €861 million, ahead of European champion Paris Saint Germain with €837 million, conditioned by the difficulties that arose in Ligue 1 due to the loss of a large part of the domestic revenues linked to the TV rights agreement.