Welcome to this, the eighth year of the Deloitte Football Money League (PDF, 1495 KB), which profiles the largest clubs in the world’s most popular sport. There are a number of different methods of defining a large club – in terms of fanbase, attendances, TV audiences, or success on the pitch. However, for the purposes of this publication, we look at the best publicly available measure of ‘financial muscle’: income from day to day football business operations.We don’t consider a club’s budget for outgoings or what someone might pay to buy a club.

This edition of the Money League covers the 2003/04 season and is therefore the most contemporary and reliable analysis of this aspect of clubs’ relative financial performance, being released less than nine months after the end of last season, as soon as the relevant clubs’ accounts are available to us. Revenues have continued to grow since our last edition, continuing a long term trend. In the first edition, back in 1996/97, the 20 clubs’ combined income was €1.2 billion – this year’s top five clubs earned almost as much as that between them and the top 20 clubs collectively generate almost €3 billion, a compound growth rate of 14% per year.

We provide some additional features this year, in addition to our usual profiles of the top 20 clubs and their revenue sources:

• we examine differences between the UK and European clubs in terms of stadium income
• explore the prospects for future revenue growth from commercial partnerships
• review the UEFA Champions League and its importance to Money League clubs.

For more information please download the Deloitte Football Money League (PDF, 1495 KB).