There is no stopping Real Madrid when it comes to revenue, with the Spanish giants topping the money list for the eighth year in a row, followed by the likes of Barcelona, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal.
Real blew all the clubs out of the water, being the only club with an annual revenue of over €500 million (£420 million, $665 million), earning €512.6 million (£431 million, $682.4 million), according to the 2012 Deloitte Soccer Money League.
With the revenue, Real became the first club in any sport to conquer the magical €500 million mark. "It is an impressive achievement for Real Madrid to have surpassed €500 million in revenue in a single year. Real have led the way in the phenomenal rate of revenue growth achieved by the game's top clubs," Dan Jones, partner in the sports business group at Deloitte said.
Barcelona, though, are right on the coattails of their archrivals, earning a revenue of €483 million for the year 2011-2012.
Real and Barcelona are hugely advantaged by the fact that they earn TV revenue in Spain individually, and not like other leagues, especially the English Premier League, where the revenue is shared.
"It's always interesting to see the disparity between the top two in Spain and the rest of the league," said Mark Roberts, senior consultant within the sports business group at Deloitte. "There are no other Spanish clubs in the top 20.
"A key change that would improve the overall state of finances in Spanish football would be a collective broadcast deal. It sounds like the Spanish government have put collective payments on the agenda on that level which, if it happens, can only help with the competitiveness of the division."
Manchester United are third in the money league, with €395.9 million (£332.9m, $527m) in revenue, while Bayern Munich are fourth, earning €368.4 million (£309.8m, $490.5m).
Chelsea and Arsenal make up the top six with €322.6 million (£271.3m, $429.5m) and €290.3 million (£244.1m, $386.4m) respectively, while Premier League champions Manchester City have climbed up to seventh. AC Milan, Liverpool and Juventus round out the top ten.
"The Premier League still has the most representatives in the top 20 of the list," Roberts added. "Clubs will get another €20-30 million from the new broadcasting deal so in the future there will be more English clubs challenging for those positions.
"The most there has been in the list is eight but I think we could be seeing as much of half of the list represented by the Premier League."
