LONDON: Real Madrid and Barcelona are again the biggest moneymakers in world football. The Spanish rivals took first and second place in Deloitte’s annual study of the sport’s finances, with Manchester United slipping a place to third because of the weakness of the pound rather than their $1.07 billion debt.

Madrid generated $567.3 million in the 12 months ending June 30, according to the report released on Tuesday by British accountancy firm Deloitte. European champion Barcelona were ranked second in the list of 20 biggest clubs according to revenue with $517.2 million, moving up a place to return to the position they occupied two years ago.

Although the economic downturn meant that nine clubs showed a decrease in revenue in local currency, the combined income of the top 20 clubs was up about $36.7 million from the previous year at $5.5 billion.