Barcelona is Europe’s richest football club by revenues

BARCELONA’S FOOTBALLERS do not sparkle quite as they used to. Granted, at the season’s halfway mark they are top of La Liga, just ahead of Real Madrid, their perennial rivals, and may win a third consecutive Spanish title. But they have not won the European Champions League since 2015, in which time Real have lifted the trophy three times. After months of grumbles and rumours, on January 13th the club sacked its coach, Ernesto Valverde, and replaced him with Quique Setién, former boss of Real Betis, another Spanish team.

However, the club has secured a European championship of sorts. In its annual survey of European football finance, Deloitte, a consulting firm, reports that in the 2018-19 season, for the first time, Barcelona hauled in more revenue than any other club. Its income of €840.8m ($959m) knocked Real, with €757.3m, into second place. (Europe’s financial championship is, in effect, the world’s: Deloitte points out that no club outside the continent ranks in the global top 30.)