Man Utd pushed out of football rich list top three

Recent commercial deals should boost United's coffers this season

Manchester United has dropped out of the top three in Deloitte's football rich list for the first time.

Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich were in the first three places in Deloitte's list, which is based on revenues in the 2012-13 season.

Real Madrid, with revenues of 518.9m euros (£444.7m), topped the list for the ninth year in a row, breaking a record previously held by Man Utd.

French champions Paris Saint Germain took fifth spot in the table.

Despite falling down the pecking order, United's revenues increased from 395.9m euros to 423.8m euros.

The total combined revenue for the top 20 richest clubs rose 8% to 5.4bn euros, the report found. The list only looks at revenues accrued and does not take into account club debts.

Dan Jones, partner in Deloitte's sports business group told the BBC that the increase in revenues was due largely to commercial sources, such as "sponsorships, shirts - everything that isn't tickets and TV."

Other findings included:

• Treble-winning Bayern Munich saw revenues rise by 62.8m euros (17%) to 431.2m euros

• Turkish clubs Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe claimed places in the top 20

• All clubs in the top 30 now generate over 100m euros in revenue each, whereas in the first list, compiled in 1996-97, only Manchester United topped this figure

• Although Liverpool's revenues grew by 9%, the club fell out of the top 10 for the first time since 1999-2000

"Whilst Manchester United drop one place in the Money League, a number of the club's recent commercial deals will boost revenue in 2013-14, so this fall to fourth place may only be temporary," said Deloitte's Austin Houlihan.

"These deals, combined with the impact of the improved three-year Premier League broadcast deals from 2013-14, mean they are likely to get close to the 500m-euro revenue mark in next year's Money League.

"Beyond 2013-14, consistent qualification for the Champions League is key in United challenging to regain top spot in the Money League, a position it last held in 2003-04."

The Old Trafford club currently sits seventh in the Premier League, outside the Champions League qualification spots.

Other English clubs in the top 20 places were Manchester City (6th), Chelsea (7th), Arsenal (8th), Liverpool (12th) and Tottenham Hotspur (14th).

Paris Saint Germain has seen its revenues almost quadruple to 398.8m euros since 2010-11, and that figure includes commercial revenues of 254.7m euros.

Dan Jones from Deloitte said the strong rate of revenue growth for top European clubs showed "the enduring appetite for the world's most popular sport on the global stage".

The top 10 spots were completed by Italian giants Juventus and AC Milan.

Once again, the list was dominated by clubs from the so-called "Big Five" leagues; England's Premier League, Germany's Bundesliga, Italy's Serie A, Spain's La Liga, and France's Ligue 1.

However, as well as the two Turkish teams, Brazilian club Corinthians also made it into the top 30.