Man Utd top European sponsorship table with over $300 million in deals

Bayern Munich and Real Madrid follow the Red Devils, with four other Premier League clubs in the top 10

Manchester United have been named as the top club in Europe’s top five leagues in terms of sponsorship revenue.

The report by media company CSM Sport & Entertainment analysed sponsorship deals spanning across the top five European football leagues – in England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France.

Manchester United topped the club-by-club list, generating €269 million (£235m/$309m) per year from 68 commercial deals. Spanish champions Barcelona were close behind, with a yearly income of €261m (£229m/$299m) – the only other club to generate more than €200m.

European heavyweights Bayern Munich and Real Madrid lead a quartet of English clubs (Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool) in revenue, while the top 10 was rounded off by the current champions of France and Italy – Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus.

Eleventh-placed Borussia Dortmund completed CSM’s top sponsorship list, despite having more sponsor deals than any of the top 10 clubs with 71 – generating just €80m (£70m/$92m) per-year.

With its teams forming half of the top 10, it is no surprise that England’s Premier League leads by some margin in Europe, making over €1.2 billion (£1.1bn/$1.4bn) a year from 440 sponsorship agreements.

Teams in Germany’s Bundesliga make the most deals in Europe with 617, which places the league second in Europe, but a low price-by-deal ratio sees these only generate €734.7m (£328m/$430m) in income.

In contrast, Spain’s top clubs have fewer deals (363) than leagues in Germany and Italy, yet create €678.5m (£595m/$778m) worth of revenue.

Italy’s Serie A generates the least money per sponsorship deal, making €439.3m (£385m/$505m) from 547 agreements.

The French top tier, Ligue 1 generates €357.8m (£314m/$411m) from 306 deals, with top club PSG making up €112m (£98m/$128m) of that figure – almost a third of the entire league.

The top 11 Individual sectors were also ranked – with the financial sector investing the most money across the top five European leagues with €314m (£275m/$360m). The automotive sector invests €305m (£267m/$350m), albeit from considerably fewer agreements (55) compared to the 129 from financial companies.

Airlines are third, contributing the most per agreement, with €266m (£233m/$305m) worth of investments making up just 22 agreements – a rate of just over €12m (£11m/$14m) a deal.

The rest of the top 11 is made up of bookmakers, breweries, energy firms, telecommunications, tyre companies, hardware, insurance and food sectors.

When sorted by specific brands, airline Fly Emirates – which is the shirt sponsor of three clubs in the top 10 – invest €178m (£156m/$204m) in sponsorship deals. That figure is over double that of second-placed gas company Gazprom, which only invests €80m (£70m/$92m). Carmaker Nissan is joined by beer brand Heineken and gaming brand PlayStation 4 in the top five.

Manchester United’s shirt sponsor deal with Chevrolet is the car brand’s only soccer deal – yet the €60m (£53m/$69m) per-year agreement leaves the brand seventh on the list.