Deloitte Football Money League: Man Utd fall to bottom with Liverpool top-earning PL club and Real Madrid top | Football news

Manchester United have dropped to the bottom of the Deloitte Football Money League, while Liverpool are England’s top-earning club for the first time.

The Red Devils were once regarded as the blueprint for commercial success in football and have topped the Money League in ten of their 29 appearances, most recently in 2017.

However, They are together drop to eighth place in 2026, partly due to broadcasting revenue falling from €258m [£216.72m] to 206m [£172.9m] due to their absence from the Champions League in 2024-25.

The club is expected to bring in less matchday revenue this season due to its complete absence from European competition, and its failure to clear the first hurdle in any domestic trophy means it will play just 20 games at Old Trafford in 2025-26.

“Clubs with big football clubs and market position have the opportunity to expand their reach and offer more to fans on match day, offer more to fans on non-match day, and be a point of contact 365 days a year,” said Tim Bridge, Group Leader of Sports at Deloitte. “Maybe United are starting that journey now, because of the reported improvements to the stadium.

“If you go back 10 or 15 years, and you look at the daily income of Manchester United it was the industry leader. If you look at their ability to generate commercial income, it was a benchmark where everyone then went to the market and set their strategy. I don’t think that is still the case.

“The opportunity still remains for Manchester United. They are arguably the biggest club in the world, so they still have the opportunity to grow that in a way that is only possible for a select few.

“But doing that requires the right resources. As the industry evolves, clubs have to ask themselves if there’s a need to rethink how they engage with fans and how that relationship works. With the reports of the new stadium, it’s clear that they’ve started to do some of that, so it’s very clear that they’re thinking that way. Their time to make that change is behind Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​but the opportunity is still there.”

United are the fourth English club in the 2026 Money League behind Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal, with Real Madrid up as they were the first team to record revenue in excess of €1bn – €1.161bn or £975.2m.

Liverpool they sit in fifth place after returning to the Champions League in 2024-25 and a seven per cent increase in commercial income from non-sporting events at Anfield.

It is the first time that there is no English team in the top four of the Money League, with Real, Barcelona, ​​​​Bayern Munich again Paris Saint-Germain all benefiting from depth in the newly expanded Champions League and the expanded FIFA Club World Cup in the summer.

Deloitte said the Club World Cup resulted in an average 17 percent increase in broadcast revenue for the 10 participating Money League clubs.

Premier League clubs may expect to do better overall in the 2027 Money League, which will be the first to show the new broadcasting deal that comes to 2029, but Bridge said the best-performing clubs will continue to be those with on-field success regardless of classification.

“The trick is to stay [in the top five] it keeps both of those. You used to be the only one who saved one of them. Now, in 2026, we are at a time when clubs are making more money than football,” he said.

Manchester City sixth place was the lowest since the 2019-20 Covid-19-affected season.

In total, nine Premier League clubs made it into the Money League’s top 20, with Tottenham [ninth], Chelsea [10th], Aston Villa [14th], Newcastle [17th] again West Ham [20th].

Top-flight women’s football clubs make more than €150m for the first time

For the fourth year, the Deloitte Football Money League profiles 15 of the top money-earning women’s clubs around the world. In another record-breaking year, these clubs reported an average revenue of more than €10m [£8.4m] for the first time, with a cumulative profit of €158m [£132.72m]which marks an increase of 35 percent from last year’s figure.

Arsenal Women tops the list this year, edging out FC Barcelona Femení for the first time, with revenue of €25.6m [£21.5m]which is a 43 percent increase over last season. A major investment in fan data and activation helped to generate attendances of more than 35,000 across five separate periods during the 2024/25 season.

Chelsea Women calculated to the nearest second [£21.3m] while generating the highest commercial revenue among the top 15 [£16m]. FC Barcelona Femeni [£18.5m] completes the top three after another successful domestic season.

“While growth has increased significantly in women’s soccer in recent years, moving from the early stage to the established stage requires consistent time, investment, and effort to develop the fundamentals in the right way,” said Jennifer Haskel, information and insights leader at Deloitte Sports Business Group.

“As other milestones continue, including new and expanded tournaments at the major stages, industry leaders must continue to innovate, while protecting the needs and wants of fans and players to focus on the game’s sustainable future.”