Elite European football clubs top up their cash reserves every other weekend thanks to supporters coming through the turnstiles.
These gate receipts help teams to fund transfers, wages, and simply keep the whole organisation functioning from the megastore to the canteen.
Some sides, make more on the door than others though and thanks to UEFA’s latest benchmarking report we know who the top 20 clubs are at generating this cash.
It isn’t an exact science, though, and the governing body of European football makes clear gate receipts per match are calculated by dividing total gate receipt revenue by the number of official competitive domestic league and cup matches and UEFA matches hosted during the financial year (i.e. home matches only, plus finals).
The best supported clubs with aggregate attendances of more than a million fans, including Celtic, Arsenal and Manchester United
And they admit this may in some cases lead to a slight overestimation of revenue per match if clubs also generated gate receipts from non-official friendly matches. In addition, there are also various revenue sharing arrangements for domestic league and cup matches that can increase or decrease receipts per match.
Nonetheless, thanks to the figures we can get an idea of which top clubs are getting the most out of their paying fans.
19= Athletic Bilbao – Gate receipts for the 2017 financial year = €36million/£31.57m
(25 home matches played = €1.4million/£1.23m per game)
19= Celtic – Gate receipts for the 2017 financial year = €36million/£31.57m
(29 home matches played = €1.2million/£1.05m per game)
18. Eintracht Frankfurt – Gate receipts for the 2017 financial year = €37million/£32.44m
(19 home matches played = €1.9million/£1.67m per game)
17. Schalke – Gate receipts for the 2017 financial year = €38million/£33.32m
(20 home matches played = €1.9million/£1.67m per game)
16. Hamburg – Gate receipts for the 2017 financial year = €40million/£35.08m
(19 home matches played = €2.1million/£1.84m per game)
15. Atletico Madrid – Gate receipts for the 2017 financial year = €41million/£35.95m
(29 home matches played = €1.4million/£1.23m per game)
13= Borussia Dortmund – Gate receipts for the 2017 financial year = €44million/£38.58m
(26 home matches played = €1.7million/£1.49m per game)
13= Olympique Lyonnais – Gate receipts for the 2017 financial year = €44million/£38.58m
(28 home matches played = €1.6million/£1.40 m per game)
12. West Ham United – Gate receipts for the 2017 financial year = €45million/£39.46m
(24 home matches played = €1.9million/£1.67m per game)
11. Tottenham Hotspur – Gate receipts for the 2017 financial year = €51million/£44.72m
(28 home matches played = €1.8million/£1.58m per game)
9= Juventus – Gate receipts for the 2017 financial year = €60million/£52.61m
(30 home matches played = €2million/£1.75m per game)
9= Manchester City – Gate receipts for the 2017 financial year = €60million/£52.61m
(26 home matches played = €2.3million/£2.02m per game)
8. Chelsea – Gate receipts for the 2017 financial year = €68million/£59.63m
(25 home matches played = €2.7million/£2.37m per game)
7. Liverpool – Gate receipts for the 2017 financial year = €85million/£74.54m
(24 home matches played = €3.5million/£3.07m per game)
6. Paris Saint-Germain – Gate receipts for the 2017 financial year = €90million/£78.92m
(29 home matches played = €3.1million/£2.72m per game)
4= Arsenal – Gate receipts for the 2017 financial year = €117million/£102.60m
(28 home matches played = €4.2million/£3.68m per game)
4= Bayern Munich – Gate receipts for the 2017 financial year = €117million/£102.60m
(26 home matches played = €4.5million/£3.95m per game)
3. Manchester United – Gate receipts for the 2017 financial year = €120million/£105.23m
(33 home matches played = €3.6million/£3.16m per game)
2. Real Madrid – Gate receipts for the 2017 financial year = €142million/£123m
(29 home matches played = €4.9million/£4.3m per game)
1. Barcelona – Gate receipts for the 2017 financial year = €143million/£125.39m
(30 home matches played = €4.8million/£4.21m per game)