Manchester United and the English Premier League might claim to be taking the commercial world by storm with their innovative marketing, but the golden rule that great football produces great cash still holds very true. As the annual listing of income for major European clubs for the season of 2006-07 comes out, the ‘Aristocrats of world football’ still stay on top ahead of the Red Devils. Real Madrid heads the list with €351 million as the club that gained most in terms of cash, despite not having the best of seasons in terms of silverware. Manchester United is quickly closing the gap, but is still way behind with €315.2million.

Three of the top five teams in the annual analysis of club sales published today come from England. While Real Madrid tops the rankings for the third straight year they are followed by Manchester United, Barcelona, Chelsea and Arsenal. While growing global market and more exposure world over make the EPL and its clubs more and more difficult to beat with each passing year, the Spanish giants still managed to hold firm at the top. Barcelona also did well to be placed ahead of Chelsea and Arsenal considering the little exposure it gets on global stage.

While global markets influence the clubs profits, Champions League victory still is key to the success of the European clubs financially. English Premier League soccer teams are set to dominate a list of the 20 biggest clubs by revenue from next year because of record income from broadcasters, meaning that it would be more difficult for clubs outside of the big 5 leagues in Europe to make it to the list of the top 20. Madrid and Barcelona are joined by Valencia in the top 20, Germany and Italy each have four teams, France provides two, and Scotland’s Celtic, a newcomer at 17th place, is the sole representative from outside the top five leagues. Celtic might soon loose out to the EPL clubs once the new commercial rights for matches are bagged for a record deal.

Here is the list of the top 20 for the season of 2006-07:

CLUB WITH EARNING In MILLION EUROS:

1. Real Madrid 351.0
2. Manchester United 315.2
3. Barcelona 290.1
4. Chelsea 283.0
5. Arsenal 263.9
6. AC Milan 227.2
7. Bayern Munich 223.3
8. Liverpool 198.9
9. Inter Milan 195.0
10. Roma 157.6
11. Tottenham 153.1
12. Juventus 145.2
13. Lyon 140.6
14. Newcastle 129.4
15. Hamburg 120.4
16. Schalke 114.3
17. Celtic 111.8
18. Valencia 107.6
19. Marseille 99.0
20. Werder Bremen 97.3

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