AC Milan are outside the top 10 in Europe when it comes to the amount that they get from their kit deal and shirts sold, but they are the second ranked Italian club.
UEFA have published their annual report which looks into the financial landscape of European club football and as part of that they have disclosed who are the top-earning clubs in terms of their kits.
The data combines the manufacturer sponsorship revenue (i.e. income from their kit supply deals) with their total merchandising revenue for the calendar year, so it can be used as a yardstick for popularity in a sense.
As per UEFA, the revenues from shirt sales and merchandising have risen approximately 60% since 2019 and there has been a sharp increase since the pandemic, with the sport heading more down the path of being commercial-centric.
Looking at the top 20 of the ranking, the first notable name is Inter in 20th position with their Nike deal plus shirt sales earning them €26m, below the likes of Fenerbahce, Celtic and even Leeds United.
Milan are in 13th with nearly double that at €47m, while Juventus are the top Serie A club at €74m. There are then five clubs who are at over €100m: Manchester United, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona.
As a reminder, Milan earn €30m per year as part of their new deal with PUMA which came into effect last year.
Top 20 highest revenues from shirt sales in 2023 [uefa via @ESPNFC] pic.twitter.com/Hv7wni8kCs
— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) March 1, 2024
In what world does Tottenham sell more kits than Milan? Or bvb for that matter
Korea
Being totally irrelevant during the social media era set Milan back decades and it will take a while to catch up to the teams on the top.
Barcelona makes 130 mil more per year just from shirt sponsorship and shirt sales.
The other clubs adopted to the new way of promoting your brand while Berlusconi was using dinosaur tactics by signing washed up stars who were more interested in the night clubs and buffet tables.
When you add that Milan doesn’t even have their own stadium and the revenue these other clubs collect from their stadiums on top of that, you realize how much behind Milan is. Inter is even further back.
Big money owner isn’t changing that anytime soon.
No matter how much money the owner has some things take time. Rebuilding the Milan brand will take time.
You can’t produce a baby in 1 month, by getting 9 women pregnant.
And the most interesting part is that the top 5 teams are not some clubs owned by big money owners like City, PSG ,Chelsea or Newcastle. Psg is only that high because of the Nike deal which they signed while they had 2 of the top Nike athletes on their team Mbappe and Neymar.
Well said. And let’s be honest, it is surprising that Milan is even this high on the charts. But I’m sure we’ll get into the top 10 soon.