Interesting to take a look back at the Deloitte Football Money League 2026 report, now we know the identity of the Champions League quarter-finalists.
I wrote something on a similar theme at the end of January 2026.
Back then it was at the completion of the Swiss League stage of the competition, the Champions League table after the eight rounds of matches, then comparing it to the Deloitte Football Money League 2026 rich list. which had just been published.
The Deloitte report showing the football clubs with the biggest revenues (The revenues coming from across three broad areas – Broadcast, Matchday and Commercial. They don’t include money brought in by selling players) in world football for the most recent (2024/25) season.
Could we draw any conclusions?
Deloitte Football Money League 2026 top twenty covering the 2024/25 season accounts for each club and the amount of their total revenues that season, then where each of these clubs finished in the final Swiss League Champions League table:
| Rank | Club | Revenue (24/25) | CL Finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Real Madrid | €1,161.0m | 9th |
| 2 | Barcelona | €974.8m | 5th |
| 3 | Bayern Munich | €860.6m | 2nd |
| 4 | PSG | €837.0m | 11th |
| 5 | Liverpool | €836.1m | 3rd |
| 6 | Man City | €829.3m | 8th |
| 7 | Arsenal | €821.7m | 1st |
| 8 | Man U | €793.1m | N/A |
| 9 | Tottenham | €672.6m | 4th |
| 10 | Chelsea | €584.1m | 6th |
| 11 | Inter Milan | €537.5m | 10th |
| 12 | Borussia Dortmund | €531.3m | 17th |
| 13 | Atletico Madrid | €454.5m | 14th |
| 14 | Aston Villa | €450.2m | N/A |
| 15 | AC Milan | €410.4m | N/A |
| 16 | Juventus | €401.7m | 13th |
| 17 | Newcastle United | €398.4m | 12th |
| 18 | Stuttgart | €296.3m | N/A |
| 19 | Benfica | €283.4m | 24th |
| 20 | West Ham | €276.0m | N/A |
The biggest stand out back in January 2026?
Ten of the top eleven (Man U the exception) in the Deloitte Football Money League 2026 were competing in the Champions League this season. Back in January, the final Champions League Swiss League table saw those ten clubs ALL finishing in the top 11 spots. Sporting Lisbon were the exception, they finished seventh in the Swiss League stage of the Champions League but weren’t in the Deloitte 2026 report top 20. Indeed, they weren’t even in the top 30 clubs when it came to revenues in the 2024/25 season.
Champions League quarter-finalists
Bringing things up to the present day, these are the Champions League last 16 results, the aggregate scores in the eight ties.
Sporting Lisbon 5 Bodo/Glimt 3
Real Madrid 5 Manchester City 1
PSG 8 Chelsea 2
Arsenal 3 Bayer Leverkusen 1
Barcelona 8 Newcastle United 3
Liverpool 4 Galatasaray 1
Atletico Madrid 7 Tottenham 5
Bayern Munich 10 Atalanta 2
If we now present the same list of results, with the winners listed on the left each time, but add (in brackets) the Deloitte 2026 rich list top 30 positions and the amount of their revenues last (2024/25) season:
Sporting Lisbon (N/A €148m) Bodo/Glimt (N/A €53m)
Real Madrid (1st €1,161m) Manchester City (6th €829m)
PSG (4th €837m) Chelsea (10th €584m)
Arsenal (7th €822m) Bayer Leverkusen (N/A €388m)
Barcelona (2nd €975m) Newcastle United (17th €398m)
Liverpool (5th €836m) Galatasaray (21st €274m)
Atletico Madrid (13th €454m) Tottenham (9th €673m)
Bayern Munich (3rd €861m) Atalanta (N/A €199m)
As you can see, in seven of the eight Champions League last 16 ties, the club that brought in the higher revenues went through to the quarter-finals. In most of the match ups, you are talking about hundreds of millions(€) more.
The exception to the rule was the Atletico Madrid v Tottenham match up. Tottenham bringing in over €200m more in revenues last season that Atletico Madrid but the Spanish side progressing to the Champions League quarter-finals.
However, Tottenham are in a right mess when it comes to running the football side of things and zero surprise that this tie ended as it did. Spurs of course in a relegation fight in the Premier League.
I think in the Swiss League stage of the Champions League, there is always the chance of shock individual results. Especially when you have so many matches and even if the richest most powerful clubs lose two or three of the eight games, they can still qualify.
However, when you get to the sharp end of things, the knockout rounds, then money talks.
The clubs that have the most money, that have the most expensively assembled squads that can afford to invest in far more quality and strength in depth, the clubs that most importantly have the ability to pay far higher wages, then it clearly comes through in the results.
It doesn’t make it impossible for those that have far lower revenues to progress to the late stages of the Champions League BUT it does make it far less likely.
(For Bayer Leverkusen, the €388m is their 2023/24 revenues. They don’t appear to have released their 2024/25 accounts as yet and they don’t appear in the Deloitte top 30 in the 2026 report, they would have been for sure but I guess they haven’t supplied Deloitte with their revenue figures. Mike Ashley did this at times with Newcastle United, meaning NUFC didn’t appear in the Deloitte top 30 due to the accounts not published and Ashley choosing not to provide the headline figures to Deloitte. What is for sure, is that whatever the Bayer Leverkusen 2024/25 turnover was, at the very most it will only be around half of Arsenal’s)