An analytical report has discovered that the Barcelona-Arsenal round of 16 tie will feature the two teams with the highest combined revenue in the history of the Champions League at this stage of the competition.
According to an article on ESPNFC, the Deloitte Football Money League that profiles the highest earners among clubs in world football, Barcelona’s revenue in 2014/15 was €560.8 million and Arsenal had made a figure of €435.5 million. By taking the combined sum of both the revenues the value achieved is €996.3 million.
Mr. Dan Jones who is a representative of the Sports Business Group at Deloitte shed more light on the matter. He said, “FC Barcelona and Arsenal generate the second and seventh highest revenues in world club football.”
The spokesperson also mentioned the profits a club can earn by progressing further in the UEFA Champions League. “Participating and progressing in the Champions League delivers significant revenue benefits in terms of UEFA distributions and matchday revenue, and success on the pitch can also translate into commercial uplifts.”
Last year both Barcelona and Juventus received monetary gains after finishing as winners and runners-up respectively in the competition.
“FC Barcelona's Champions League triumph last year resulted in UEFA distributions of €61 million -- an increase of €19.1 million from the previous season. Similarly, Juventus' successful run to the final last season helped the club to achieve total revenue growth of 16 percent.”
Clubs currently in the last 16 have a combined revenue of more than €4.3 billion. Barcelona and Arsenal make up a quarter of that figure itself. The match in Europe that takes second spot in terms of combined revenue is the Europa League game between Manchester United and Liverpool.
Both the clubs also feature as one of the highest earners in world football and their total sum comes up to a value of €911.3 million, which is not too far away from their Champions League counterparts.
The club that top the Money League is undoubtedly Real Madrid with a revenue of €577 million, but their opposition in the Champions League Roma are 16th at €750 million. Paris Saint-Germain (€480.8 million) vs. Chelsea (€420 million) and Juventus (€323.9 million) vs. Bayern Munich (€474 million) are the other fixtures in the competition.
Manchester City rank sixth in this list with a revenue of €463.5 million while Dynamo Kiev’s valuation was not available.
Arsenal still struggling for results ahead of 2nd leg against Barcelona
It is already mission impossible for Arsenal in the Champions League after they lost their first leg against Barcelona at the Emirates. Now they face the improbable task of trying to overturn the deficit at the Nou Camp when they face the Catalans in around 10 days time.
But before that, they still have to get back to winning ways in the League after dropping to eight points behind the leaders yesterday as a result of a draw against their North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
A comeback against the holders of the Champions League looks unlikely with Barcelona set to progress to another quarter-final.
