FC Barcelona Femení Revenue Up 74% According To Deloitte Money League
The European champions, FC Barcelona have stretched the gap between themselves and other women’s clubs by generating revenue of $14.6 million according to Deloitte.
Last year, the annual Money League published by Deloitte suggested that the Catalan club recorded an income of $8.3 million during the 2021/22 season fuelled by matchday income boosted by generating two world records crowds of over 90,000 to their Camp Nou stadium.
Now, driven by commercial revenue, accounting for 58% of their income, they have swelled their coffers in a season in which they won the UEFA Women’s Champions League for the second time. As well as the club’s official sponsors such as NikeNKE and Spotify, the women’s team have established partnerships with a number of specific global partners like Huera.
Following their most successful season on the pitch, English side Manchester United were once again in second place in Deloitte’s rankings, increasing their revenue from $6.5 million to $8.7 million. 74% of this came from commercial revenue.
Spanish giant, Real Madrid registered a giantic 416% increase in their numbers to overtake Manchester City to take third place in the table, generating revenue just over $8 million in the 2022/23 season. This was once again driven by commercial deals which accounted for over three-quarters of their income.
Despite finishing joint-fourth on the list alongside Manchester City on $5.8 million, Arsenal generated more than any other club from matchday revenue ($3.4 million), which amounted to 58% of their total income.
The North London club have reaped the benefits of playing more games at their 60,704-capacity Emirates Stadium including a sell-out for the UEFA Champions League semi-final against Wolfsburg in May. With six league games played at the stadium this season, that revenue is sure to increase next year.
In contrast, their London rivals Chelsea generated almost half their income ($2.1 million) from broadcast deals during a season in which they once more retained the English league and Cup and also reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Women’s Champions League. Only Barcelona ($2.2 million) made more revenue than Chelsea last season from television contracts.
The Deloitte Money League focused on the highest-generating women’s teams in the key European markets of England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal where figures were made available to them. The numbers excludes revenue contributions from associated men’s clubs. Remarkably, the eight-time European champions, Olympique Lyonnais do not feature on the list. Eight of the twelve clubs in the Women’s Super League are among the top 15 clubs in the world.
The average revenue generated by those top 15 clubs in the Money League has increased by 61% from $2.8 million to $4.6 million over the course of the season. On average, 58% of that revenue was generated by commercial partnerships, 22% by matchday income and 20% from broadcast deals.
In contract, the top twenty clubs in the men’s Money League generated an average revenue of over $544 million. This broke down to 42% from commercial, 40% from broadcast and 18% from matchday illustrating that there is significant room for future growth in the television income to be made in the women’s game.
The broadcast revenue for the leading European women’s teams looks set to increase significantly over the next few years with the three-year television deal for the Women’s Super League to expire at the end of this campaign and a new broadcast deal for the UEFA Women’s Champions League to be negotiated for the 2025/26 season.
The rankings did not contain figures from women’s clubs in Australia, Japan, Norway, Sweden and the United States where revenue numbers were not made available. The 2023 FIFA Benchmarking Report reported that NWSL clubs generated an average revenue of $5 million suggesting their clubs would have featured among the top ten clubs in the world.
Deloitte predict that over the next year, revenue from elite women’s sports will exceed $1.2 billion, with half of that generated by soccer, cemented its position as the most valuable women’s game in the world.
