The top four places in this year’s Deloitte Football Money League were occupied by four continental teams for the first time, as Premier League teams dropped down the rankings.
Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Paris St Germain occupied the first four slots in the list. Manchester City and Manchester United, who were second and fourth in last year’s list, dropped to sixth and eighth, respectively.
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European teams often bemoan the financial strength of the English Premier League, citing the differences in wages offered and the ability to pay significant transfer fees as a competitive imbalance, but does this latest ranking represent a changing of the guard in European football? This is largely a matter of perspective.
While the top four places in the list are occupied by continental behemoths, the rest of the top 20 can be interpreted differently. 45% of the top 20 teams featured in the list are Premier League clubs. In fact, outside of the top four, the rest of the top 10 are all English sides.
The next side outside of England to feature on the list is Internazionale Milano at 11, with the likes of Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, AC Milan, and Juventus competing with the likes of Newcastle United and West Ham.
In fact, three-quarters of the top 30 teams featured are Premier League teams, with Brighton, Bournemouth, Brentford, and Crystal Palace all earning a place – the only teams not in the list from the Premier League are teams that have been promoted relatively recently, such as Nottingham Forest, Leeds, Burnley, and Sunderland. The only team not to fit into either of those brackets are Fulham, who may cite the capacity of their ground as an underlying factor for their lack of financial cut through.
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By GlobalDataWhile the collective financial dominance of the Premier League cannot be questioned, it is worth noting that the top four clubs in the list have a level of dominance in their own domestic leagues, being ever present in the Champions League and either splitting league titles between them in the case of Barcelona and Real Madrid, or essentially dominating their leagues with title wins every year with PSG dominating in France and Bayern Munich in Germany.
This is perhaps underlined by the fact that Spain only has three teams in the top 30, while Germany has four and France only two. This lack of financial parity in leagues outside of the Premier League is great for a handful of teams, but is disastrous in general for competitiveness.
Villarreal manager Marcelino bemoaned the fact that Crystal Palace, arguably a team of a similar profile to Villarreal, were able to sign one of his players on wages that they could not compete with. However, this disparity is very familiar to all teams outside of Europe, with only one team, Brazil’s Flamengo, in the top 30 from outside of Europe.
The facts of the matter are that the rich are getting richer and that wealth in soccer is being consolidated in a certain number of teams. Real Madrid have generated over €1 billion for the second time, with a 23% increase in commercial revenue driven largely by new commercial partners. In fact, the top 30 wealthiest soccer clubs generated €12.4 billion in 2025, an increase of 11% compared to the same list published at the start of 2025, highlighting that while there may be fluctuations in the relative positions year on year, there is no ‘new world order’ in soccer. The rich continue to get richer, with competitions adjusted and developed according to their demands.
The new format of the UEFA Champions League, the so-called ‘Swiss Format’, was established to benefit the bigger clubs by providing more matchdays, hence more media rights, greater sponsorship opportunities, and an increase in matchday revenue.
The FIFA Club World Cup was restructured with the promise of greater riches for the larger teams – indeed, one could argue that Flamengo’s performance in the Club World Cup helped them gain entry to the top 30 on the Deloitte Football Money League due to the significant levels of prize money on offer.
While the Premier League collectively is able to distribute wealth amongst all its clubs, the trends emerging are of great consolidation of wealth in soccer as opposed to anyone usurping the establishment.
