LONDON, Feb 10: Real Madrid and Barcelona are football’s biggest moneymakers for the third straight year and look set to out-earn their rivals for the foreseeable future.

The annual review of football finance by Deloitte shows Madrid topping the list for the seventh straight year with revenue of 479.5 million ($636.5 million) to the year ending June 30, an increase of 9 per cent on the previous 12 months.

English champions Manchester United were again in third place with (euro) 367 million ($487.2 million), the highest of four English clubs in the top 10 earners. Bayern Munich were fourth with (euro) 321.4 million ($426.6 million), with Arsenal, Chelsea, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Liverpool and Schalke next.

One more year at the top for Madrid would equal United’s No. 1 streak from 1997-2004 but the accountancy firm says on-field success could yet push Barcelona into first place next year.

Barcelona trail Madrid by seven points in the Spanish league but their revenue increased 13 per cent to (euro) 451 million ($599 million) and it could rise further if the team retain the Champions League title.

Defending Spanish and European champions Barcelona receive about (euro) 30 million ($40 million) per season in a sponsorship deal from the Qatar Foundation and earned (euro) 51 million ($68 million) from the Champions League, beating United 3-1 in last season’s final at Wembley Stadium.

They can already count on (euro) 3.5 million ($4.65 million) towards next year’s total after winning FIFA’s Club World Cup in December.—AP