We’re nearing the end of the season, with a Champions League final coming up between Inter Milan and PSG.
Several leagues have already been decided, such as Bayern Munich winning the Bundesliga, PSG winning Ligue 1, and Liverpool taking the Premier League, among others.
In fact, tomorrow, Sunday, there’s El Clásico between Barcelona and Real Madrid, where the league title is at stake—if Barcelona wins, they’ve essentially secured it. Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid will play in the Club World Cup next month.
So, it’s a good time to look at another kind of competition between them: the economic one—the battle to see who generates the most revenue.
Sportswear Brand
If we look at how much clubs earn from their main sportswear brand contract, we see the following top 10 (even though 12 are listed). Source: Spobis International. Here’s the table:
| Position | Club | Kit Supplier | Contract duration | Total annual revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FC Barcelona | Nike | 2024-2038 | 127 |
| 2 | Real Madrid | Adidas | 2019-2028 | 120 |
| 3 | Manchester United | Adidas | 2025-2035 | 105 |
| 4 | FC Arsenal | Adidas | 2022-2030 | 87 |
| 5 | Paris Saint-Germain | Nike | 2019-2032 | 75 |
| 5 | Manchester City | Puma | 2018-2029 | 75 |
| 6 | FC Liverpool | Adidas | 2025-2030 | 72 |
| 7 | FC Chelsea | Nike | 2016-2032 | 70 |
| 8 | FC Bayern München | Adidas | 2020-2030 | 60 |
| 9 | Juventus Turin | Adidas | 2019-2027 | 51 |
| 10 | Tottenham Hotspur | Nike | 2018-2035 | 35 |
| 10 | Newcastle United | Adidas | 2024-2029 | 35 |
These are their earnings per season in millions of euros, but only from their main deal with their sportswear brand (Nike, Adidas, Puma). Of course, this doesn’t include sponsorships (HP, Fly Emirates, Spotify, etc.), which in many cases even surpass the income from the kit supplier.
Clubs typically negotiate these contracts in terms of fixed and variable amounts (many of which are confidential, so it’s impossible to know the exact figures). Naturally, whenever these deals are renewed, clubs aim to increase and improve them.
That’s exactly what happened with Barcelona, which recently renewed its contract with Nike, which is why it tops the ranking with Barcelona Jersey. It’s likely that Real Madrid, in 1–2 years when it’s time to renew with Adidas, will try to reclaim the top spot.
However, results on the pitch are key (so far, Real Madrid has done well with 6 Champions League titles in 10 years), as well as having star players—both in terms of sporting and marketing appeal. For example: Mbappé, Vinicius, Bellingham, etc., or at Barcelona: Lamine Yamal, Lewandowski, etc.
Despite having underperformed on the pitch for years and not even playing in the Champions League, Manchester United continues to show that, from a marketing standpoint, it has always been among the best—and it remains in the top 3.