The top 20 richest football clubs in the world ...Middle East

There are not any real surprises in our list of the top 20 richest football clubs in the world in September 2025. But the order itself can easily change via a range of circumstances – for better or worse, as fans of big teams such as PSG, Barcelona and Manchester City know very well.

Football is big business, and the sport has become a money-generating machine for the richest football clubs over the past 20 years. TV deals, rapidly rising transfer fees, and other lucrative revenue streams have combined to create mountains of cash.

At the pinnacle of the game, the biggest clubs produce ever-heftier wedges of cash each year, and football’s financial might shows no sign of decreasing anytime soon. Every year, financial industry leaders Deloitte publish their Football Money League detailing the richest clubs in the world, and we have taken a closer look at their rundown for September 2025 below.

One of two new entries from the previous update is Lyon, becoming the third club from Ligue 1 to make it into the top 20. They qualified for the UEFA Europa League (UEL) for the 2024/25 campaign off the back of their performance in the league in the previous season, which will give them additional revenue streams.

Lyon are one of the most-supported clubs in France given their past history with silverware, which means that they are also able to see a high cash flow on matchdays. Lyon finished in sixth place in the Ligue 1 table with a total of 57 points, but were relegated to Ligue 2 pending an appeal due to their hefty financial troubles, which will negatively impact their chances of making the list in the next update.

Lyon did win that appeal though, and so will continue to play in Ligue 1 in the 2025/26 season, as well as in the UEL at the expense of Premier League side Crystal Palace. Nonetheless, their chances of bringing in fresh new players to improve their squad will still be damaged by the uncertainty surrounding the club.

Lyon also had a number of significant departures in the most recent January transfer window, including the likes of Maxence Caqueret and Gift Orban to Como and Hoffenheim respectively. Star player Rayan Cherki has also signed for Manchester City in the summer transfer window, which will bring in some much-needed cash but significantly hinder their chances on the pitch.

They have also enjoyed a great start to the new 2025/26 season in Ligue 1, picking up a total of 12 points in total from their first five games. Nonetheless, they will hope to continue that level of form into their next few matches.

19. Marseille – £242.3m

Next to enter the list is another French club in Marseille, who were splashing the cash in the summer transfer window. A well-supported and popular club in France, it is not a surprise to see them have so much firepower when it comes to being able to spend their riches.

However, Marseille did not qualify for any major European competition in the 2024/25 campaign, which could hinder them financially in terms of the next update. They did well in Ligue 1 though, finishing in second place and qualifying for the UCL for next season.

Marseille lost key striker Elye Wahi to Frankfurt in the Bundesliga as they tried to replace the departing Omar Marmoush in the January transfer window. They hoped that new signing Amine Gouiri from Rennes would be able to fill the hole left behind and help aid a title push, which would have produced a significant financial windfall.

In the summer transfer window, Marseille brought star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang back to the club, along with a number of other high-profile names. This represents a significant investment, and could also improve their fortunes on the pitch.

However, their start to the new 2025/26 campaign was not the best, with just three points picked up from their opening three matches. That form will need to improve if they are to finish high up the table.

The second new entry after the last update is Aston Villa, becoming the ninth club from the Premier League to join the list. Their revenue streams have been significantly boosted after qualifying for the UCL for the 2024/25 campaign, and they also reached the quarter-final stage of the competition having beaten Belgium Pro League side Club Brugge in their last-16 tie.

Villa are one of a few teams in England's top flight that pushed for a top-five spot, which would have guaranteed UCL qualification for next season's competition, as England were given an extra place for next term given their superior coefficient ranking over other nations. However, Unai Emery's side only managed to finish in sixth, yielding a UEL place for next season instead.

The big-money sale of Colombia international striker Jhon Duran to Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr in the January transfer window will also give the Villans a significant financial boost. Forward Evann Guessand has been brought in from Ligue 1 side Nice in the summer transfer window as his replacement, but a poor start to the new 2025/26 Premier League campaign has seen Villa fail to win their opening four games, scoring just one goal.

17. West Ham – £272.0m

Just above their fellow Premier League rivals Aston Villa are West Ham, who won the UEFA Conference League (UECL) in the 2022/23 season. Being a Premier League club based in London too, they can charge match-going fans more for their tickets and raise prices for other sellable assets in the stadium.

However, unlike the last few seasons, West Ham have failed to qualify for any European competition this campaign. They also spent heavily on new recruits last summer, and given they did not do well this season finishing in 14th, their value could plummet.

The Hammers were struggling in the Premier League under new manager Julen Lopetegui, and since decided to replace him with a familiar name in the English top flight in Graham Potter. One of their star players Mohammed Kudus has been sold to London-based Premier League rivals Tottenham in this summer's transfer window, which will not help Potter's cause in terms of his team trying to improve in the 2025/26 campaign.

West Ham are already off to a poor start, currently sitting near the bottom of the table after losing both of their opening two games. The Hammers did pick up a morale-boosting 3-0 win against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground just before the international break in September though, but followed that up with further defeats against London-based rivals Tottenham and Crystal Palace on home soil.

Juventus have fallen a staggering five places since the last update. The Old Lady won nine Serie A titles in a row between 2011 and 2020 but have not lifted the Scudetto since.

Juve are another team who were competing in the UCL this campaign, which they would have hoped to maximise revenue from, but they got knocked out 4-3 on aggregate in the play-off round to Dutch side PSV. Alongside that is their bread and butter of the league, which they finished in fourth place and saw them qualify for the UCL for next season.

Juventus also competed in the FIFA Club World Cup (CWC) this summer, which is sure to yield enormous riches. They also made a number of smart additions in the summer transfer window, including Canada international striker Jonathan David on a free transfer after he left Ligue 1 side Lille, and he scored on his debut in the Old Lady's 2-0 win at home to Parma on the opening weekend of the new 2025/26 Serie A season.

Juve are unbeaten in their opening four matches, picking up a total of 10 points, as they currently sit pretty at the top of the table at the time of writing. Nonetheless, even in the division's early stages, they really look set for a title push.

15. Newcastle – £313.9m

Since Newcastle were taken over by mega-rich Saudi owners, their revenue streams have shot up. They have a number of sponsorships in Saudi Arabia now, plus their 2023/24 UCL qualification would have also contributed to extra funding. On top of almost breaching the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), which meant that they had to be careful with spending this summer, the Magpies could well drop down on this list by the next publication.

Newcastle finished in fifth place in the Premier League and so qualified for the UCL again for the second time in the last three seasons. That will boost revenue streams for the Magpies, while they also won the Carabao Cup final after impressively beating current Premier League leaders Liverpool 2-1 in the final at Wembley Stadium, their first major trophy in 70 years.

However, a tricky summer transfer window saw them miss out on a lot of their prime targets, as well as lose star Sweden international striker Alexander Isak to Liverpool for a reported British record £125m fee. The saga has also seen them have a difficult start to the new 2025/26 Premier League campaign, as Newcastle failed to win any of their opening three matches.

Inter won the Scudetto last season just behind their Milan rivals. Indeed, this would have helped boost their revenues, and we could see them overtake AC Milan in terms of riches in the next update.

Inter reached the UCL final this season, their second in three years, but lost again this time 5-0 to PSG. They also finished as runners-up in Serie A to Napoli, led by their former manager Antonio Conte.

Inter also competed in this summer's CWC, which has given them further riches. However, they are already off the pace in Serie A with two defeat from their first four games in the new 2025/26 campaign.

13. AC Milan – £335.6m

AC Milan are one of the most decorated and well-supported teams in world football, with only Real Madrid winning more Champions League titles than them. Based in the large and popular Italian city of Milan, there are plenty of opportunities for the Rossoneri to generate income.

Like their city rivals, the Rossoneri were also competing in this year's UCL, which has helped generate a little extra revenue for the club with a rich history in the competition. However, they were knocked out in the play-off round 2-1 on aggregate to Dutch team Feyenoord, and so will take no further part in this season's competition.

Milan also finished eighth in Serie A, and will not play  in Europe next season, which will significantly impact their revenue figures when the next report comes out. They signed prolific Mexico international striker Santiago Gimenez from Eredivisie side Feyenoord in order to help try and bridge that gap, and represented a significant financial outlay.

The likes of Joao Felix and Kyle Walker from the Premier League were also brought to the San Siro on loan in the January transfer window, but have since returned to their parent clubs. Sales of Theo Hernandez and Tijjani Reijnders to both Al Hilal and Manchester City respectively have yielded significant profits for Milan, but are difficult players to replace.

Milan may have wished that they more incomings in the summer transfer window as they lost their opening game of the new 2025/26 Serie A season 2-1 against newly-promoted Cremonense at San Siro.

Being based in the Spanish capital of Madrid, Atletico have been able to take advantage of plenty of revenue opportunities, especially given their rivalry with perhaps the biggest club in the world in Real Madrid. They have also had notable success on the pitch, winning La Liga in 2013/14 and 2020/21 when it is so often dominated by Real and FC Barcelona.

Atletico were one of the biggest spenders in the last summer transfer window, bringing in the likes of Argentina international striker Julian Alvarez from Manchester City and English central midfielder Conor Gallagher from Chelsea. They will be hoping that the heavy expenditure will turn into success in the future, as they finished third in La Liga.

Diego Simeone's side were also competing in the CWC, but were knocked out at the group stage. They also failed to win any of their opening three games of the new 2025/26 La Liga season.

11. Borussia Dortmund – £433.6m

Borussia Dortmund have come so close to winning major silverware in recent years, notably losing out on the 2022/23 Bundesliga title to Bayern Munich on the final day, as well as losing the 2024 Champions League final 2-0 to Real Madrid at Wembley Stadium.

They still manage to generate a lot of revenue from their large Yellow Wall support though, and have sold big in recent years with superstars like Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham leaving for greener pastures. Dortmund also competed in this season's UCL, but after a strong league phase stage, they were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Barcelona 5-3 on aggregate.

Poor early league form saw Nuri Sahin relieved of his duties as head coach – an expensive termination offset by the significant sale of Dutch forward Donyell Malen to Aston Villa in the January transfer window, which would have helped balance the books a little.

Dortmund were one of a number of sides on this list that were also competing in the CWC, while they also invested in former star player Jude Bellingham's younger brother Jobe from Premier League side Sunderland in the summer transfer window, hoping that the central midfielder can have a similar impact on the pitch. They have picked up a total of 10 points from their opening four games in the new 2025/26 Bundesliga season.

An American investment consortium got their claws into Chelsea and immediately pumped eye-watering sums into the team, spending over £1bn in a transfer splurge. The Blues’ most recent accounts had a healthy look, but it will be interesting to see how they perform next time.

Chelsea did splash the cash again last summer, and were one of the biggest spenders in Europe's top five leagues. They did qualify for the UECL as well, and beat La Liga side Real Betis in the final, which should generate extra revenue streams.

The Blues also qualified for the UCL for next season, having finished in fourth place in the Premier League table. They also significantly won the CWC after beating tournament favourites PSG 3-0 in the final, which will bag them as much as £100m which can pay for summer transfers like Joao Pedro and Jamie Gittens from Brighton and Borussia Dortmund respectively.

Chelsea have started the new 2025/26 Premier League campaign okay, picking up a total of eight points from their opening five games. Only time will tell though if the Blues will emerge as serious title contenders.

9. Tottenham – £519.2m

Though they have an enormous stadium debt to pay off, Spurs have been raking in the cash since moving into their state-of-the-art new home. New sponsorship deals are also a contributing factor, and Tottenham’s income has taken another considerable jump over the past couple of years.

Like many others in this list, Spurs invested heavily in last summer's transfer window, spending a club-record £65m to sign striker Dominic Solanke from fellow Premier League side Bournemouth, who earned an England call-up under then interim Three Lions boss Lee Carsley. The North London also generated revenue from winning the UEL last season which gained them a place in the UCL, while they will also hope to improve on their performance in the Premier League as they finished in 17th spot.

Spurs also invested significantly in their squad in the summer transfer window, signing West Ham star Mohammed Kudus for a reported £55m. Tottenham have enjoyed a decent start to the new 2025/26 Premier League campaign, picking up a total of 10 points from their first five matches.

With their Anfield expansions, Premier League performances and UCL success all driving numbers up, Liverpool’s finances are healthy, though Reds supporters would like to see owners FSG allocate more of their cash to the recruitment department. Liverpool missed out on UCL qualification for 2023/24, however, so their income dipped.

Nonetheless, they qualified for the competition in the 2024/25 campaign, and more importantly won the Premier League title in an incredible debut season for new head coach Arne Slot. The Reds also reached the Carabao Cup final, but lost 2-1 to fellow Premier League rivals Newcastle at Wembley Stadium.

They were also knocked out of the UCL after eventual winners PSG beat them in a penalty shootout in their last-16 clash, while the tie was finely poised at 1-1 on aggregate. Liverpool invested heavily in the summer transfer window, with their standout signings being Germany international midfielder Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen for what was a reported British-record fee of £115m, before Sweden international striker Alexander Isak also came through the doors from Newcastle for a reported £125m.

Their total spending reached around £450m, the most that any Premier League club has invested in a summer transfer window! It has proved to be worthwhile though, as Liverpool are the only team that boasts a 100% record after five games in the new 2025/26 campaign.

7. Arsenal – £604.8m

Arsenal are one of six Premier League representatives in the top 10 and the Gunners’ recent UCL involvement could allow them to climb the rankings even further. Matchday revenues from the 60,000-capacity Emirates Stadium in London are among the league’s loftiest.

At the same time, owners Stan and Josh Kroenke have not been shy about investing in Arsenal since Mikel Arteta’s appointment in December 2019. For all their might, one issue the club is eager to address is the lack of a UCL trophy in the cabinet.

But should the Gunners ever win it for the first time in their illustrious history, a swarm of new revenue opportunities would be expected to come their way. They finished in second place in the Premier League for a third season in a row.

Nonetheless, the UCL presented their only realistic chance of winning silverware in the 2024/25 campaign, but they lost a tough two-legged affair 3-1 on aggregate against PSG at the semi-final stage of the competition. To try and stop their trophy drought, the Gunners have invested heavily in the summer transfer window, bringing in the likes of Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad, Viktor Gyokeres from Sporting and Eberechi Eze from Crystal Palace for relatively chunky fees.

Arsenal are in second place in the Premier League table at the time of writing, picking up a total of 10 points from their opening five games.

La Liga heavyweights Barcelona have had some well-documented financial crises, with Los Cules activating their infamous “levers” to keep themselves in the black. However, the Catalonian giants remain one of the game’s biggest hitters in terms of revenue due to their consistent appearances in the UCL and the sky-high matchday funds they accrue at the 90,000-seater Camp Nou.

More UCL revenue should be generated this season, while they have also snatched the La Liga title back away from bitter rivals Real Madrid. Transfer business was fairly quiet in the summer window although Barca did Spanish goalkeeper Joan Garcia from bitter rivals Espanyol and Marcus Rashford on loan from Manchester United.

They have made an unbeaten start to the new 2025/26 La Liga season, picking up a total of 13 points from their first five games. However, Real have made a better start, winning all five of their matches.

5. Bayern Munich – £646.1m

Bayern Munich is Germany’s most popular team by far. Despite losing out to Bayer Leverkusen in 2023/24, their tight stronghold over the domestic game there has allowed them to build a rock-solid financial platform.

The Bavarians are routinely among the UCL’s most competitive outfits, too, while the sponsorship deals they attract are among the sweetest in football. They were no doubt be eager to improve on their trophyless campaign in 2023/24, as winning trophies reap financial benefits.

Bayern have done just that, recently claiming the Bundesliga title. In their opening CWC match, the Bavarians made a statement by beating New Zealand based Auckland City 10-0, but ultimately crashed out at the knockout stage.

Bayern's biggest investment in the summer transfer window was the signing of now former Liverpool and Colombia international winger Luis Diaz for a reported transfer fee of around £65.5m. The Bavarians kicked off the defence of their Bundesliga crown with an emphatic 6-0 win against RB Leipzig at the Allianz Arena, and have won every game since.

Manchester United have been slipping down the rankings in recent years, possibly due to financial mismanagement from their owners. With a huge principal debt to service, interest payment responsibilities, and soaring salaries paid to second-tier talent, United have been a bit of a mess.

However, in terms of revenues earned, the Red Devils are right up there, which suggests they could be a force to be reckoned with under their new stewardship. On the other hand, United have also had to make several cutbacks under their new ownership, who have made a number of high-profile mistakes already including the quickfire hiring and sacking of sporting director Dan Ashworth, which unnecessarily cost them millions of pounds.

It certainly highlights the dire state that they are in financially, and further reports have suggested that they are also on the brink of the Premier League's PSR rules as well. They were one of the biggest spenders in Europe's top five leagues last summer, but none of the new signings have really been able to hit the ground running properly.

Another poor season could well see United struggle again financially, and they had already suffered their worst-ever Premier League campaign under Dutch manager Erik ten Hag and now Ruben Amorim. Indeed, the Red Devils finished in 15th place, and consequently missed out on European football altogether.

To try and improve their squad, United splashed out a reported £62.5m on Wolves and Brazilian star Matheus Cunha and an extra £71m on Brentford's Bryan Mbeumo as well, while Slovenia international striker Benjamin Sesko also joined the club for a substantial transfer fee. The new arrivals have not had a major impact so far though, as the Red Devils have picked up just seven points from their opening five games in the new 2025/26 Premier League season, and were embarrassingly knocked out of the second round of the Carabao Cup by League Two side Grimsby via a penalty shootout after being held to a 2-2 draw in normal time.

3. PSG – £680.3m

Funded by swathes of Qatari cash, PSG wield as much clout as any other club in the transfer market. Many of their sponsorship contracts, especially those of Qatari origin, help to fill their coffers annually, and the Parisians’ yearly runs to the Champions League knockout stages also help to increase the cash flowing in.

Marketable players like Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, and Lionel Messi have also contributed to earning PSG the big bucks. However, they have all now left the club, and less marketable names need to step up.

PSG won the Ligue 1 title, but their main cash flow will largely come from their performances in the UCL, in which they won for the first time in their history, completing an unprecedented treble after also winning the Coupe de France. The arrival of Georgia international superstar Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in the January transfer window also gave them a boost, although he did arrive in Paris for a large sum of money.

PSG just missed out on what would have been yet another piece of silverware to their trophy collection in the CWC, after losing 3-0 to Chelsea in the final. However, they have started the new 2025/26 campaign well, winning all four of their opening matches in Ligue 1.

Manchester City reported record revenues last year, placing them second on Deloitte’s list ahead of their illustrious rivals. However, the Premier League is investigating the Citizens for 115 alleged financial irregularities, many of which are related to artificial inflation of revenue and sponsorship streams.

Nevertheless, City’s success on the pitch continues to create new wealth off it, regardless of what happens in their upcoming hearing. Indeed, the City Football Group injected £210m into the club in the final week of August 2024, to give Man City an optimal chance of ensuring that they can avoid financial rule breaches in 2024/25.

However, Pep Guardiola's side finished in third place in the Premier League, and do not quite look like the powerhouse that they used to be. As such, they spent big in the January transfer window in order to help refresh the squad, with around £180m of new talent set to come through the doors at the Etihad Stadium.

That significant financial outlay not only made them the biggest spenders in world football in January, but they also spent more than the other 19 clubs did in the Premier League combined (£177m)! On top of a relatively poor league finish by their usual sky-high standards, City's revenue figures could well have plummeted by the time the next update comes.

They also did plenty of business in this summer's transfer window already ahead of playing in the CWC, with the likes of Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Rayan Cherki and James Trafford all signed for fairly significant outlays. However, they have not helped City too much, as they lost two of their first three games in the new 2025/26 Premier League campaign.

1. Real Madrid – £882.6m

The world’s biggest club, Real Madrid have been listed among the globe’s richest outfits for an age, and Los Blancos can draw from one of football’s deepest funds whenever a new superstar catches their eye. A series of UCL triumphs over the past decade have added more zeros to their account balance, with Real earning a lot from La Liga TV and prize money on top.

Indeed, Los Blancos' illustrious financial history gained an extra degree of dominance over the rest in July 2024, when they became the world's first football club to rake in more than one billion euros in revenue (£840m). That figure does not even include player transfers either, and it represents a rise of approximately 27% on the previous year's total revenue.

Overall, Real made 16m euros (approximately £13.5m) in profit during the 2023/24 financial year. They finished in second place in the La Liga table, and were knocked out of the UCL by Arsenal 5-1 on aggregate at the quarter-final stage.

Real were also competing in this summer's CWC, but were disappointedly knocked out in the semi-finals after being thrashed 4-0 by PSG. Former Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold was one of the star names that Los Blancos added to their squad in the summer transfer window so far, alongside the likes of Dean Huijsen from Bournemouth.

They have enjoyed a perfect start to the new 2025/26 La Liga campaign so far, winning each of their first five games. The same cannot be said for their main rivals Barcelona and Atletico Madrid though.

What is the Deloitte Money Football League?

The Deloitte Money Football League is a yearly profile of the highest-revenue clubs in world football. It claims to be the industry’s most reliable independent analysis of the top-earning clubs, and several of the biggest media companies use it as a reference point for their own analysis of financial figures.

Deloitte itself is the biggest professional services network in terms of revenue and number of employees in the world. It is considered to be one of the “Big Four” accounting firms. They have released 28 Deloitte Money Football League profiles in total now, with the latest edition coming in January 2025.

They calculate the clubs' “riches” by revenue generated in the previous footballing season, so for example, the 2025 profile focuses on the revenues generated from the 2023/24 campaign. Revenue can be generated in various ways, from tickets and products sold on matchdays to commercial and broadcast revenue, and all of the figures are calculated to form a total revenue for each club.

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