10 top-earning football clubs from shirt sales and merchandise

It wasn’t until the mid-1970s, more than a century after the FA Cup’s inauguration as the first major football competition, that fans could buy the same kit as their sporting idols.

Admiral pioneered the newfangled idea in 1973, manufacturing Leeds United’s iconic white strip in their title-winning campaign after a travelling salesman had a chance encounter with manager Don Revie at the club’s training ground.

Five decades on, shirt sales and the flood of accompanying merchandise are a staple of each club’s financial portfolio. Leeds may have been the pioneers but just miss out on the continent’s list of the ten highest earners (they sit 16th). Here are the sides that have out-sold the rest of Europe.

All data via UEFA‘s European Club Finance and Investment Landscape report for the 2023 financial year.

Daniel Levy thinks in the long term. In 2018, Tottenham Hotspur’s chairman committed the club to a remarkable 15-year contract with Nike.

While the agreement afforded Spurs an unparalleled level of security, it prevents them from snagging a higher offer in future years. Given the club’s place in the top ten – above Premier League champions Manchester City, among others – Levy’s forethought has been validated.

The design director of adidas’ football department, Inigo Turner, tried to look on the bright side. “Sometimes jerseys take a little longer to become a favourite,” he offered after Juventus’ kit for the 2019/20 season was pilloried for its controversial half-and-half design.

“It could be that the team needs to wear it a little bit and then people will go: ‘Yeah, now I’m really used to it. I really like it’.” Turner’s fantasy never came to pass and Juve have returned to their traditional black and white stripes ever since.

Chelsea’s loosely themed 90s kit for the 2023/24 season harked back to an even earlier era as the club began the new campaign without a main shirt sponsor.

It wasn’t until the end of September that Chelsea finally came to a £40m arrangement with Infinite Athlete. Many fans may have preferred a shirt unblemished by any company logo across the chest but the club’s accountants would certainly have been pushing for the deal.