Real Madrid to keep status of World's Richest Club
27/06/2007 |
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Real Madrid's revenue will increase about 17 percent this year and next to maintain the club's status as "by far'' the richest in soccer, President Ramon Calderon said.
Sales for the year ending June 30 will rise to 343 million euros ($460 million), fueled by revenue from dozens of new VIP boxes at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, Calderon told reporters in Madrid today. Pretax profit will soar almost 90-fold to 40 million euros, he said without giving a figure for net income.
Fiscal 2008 revenue will rise to "almost'' 400 million euros as a seven-year, 1.2 billion-euro broadcast contract with Grupo Mediapro kicks in, he said.
Real Madrid, which in 2005 ended Manchester United's eight- year stint as the richest club, may use the profit to sign Kaka, the Brazilian playmaker whom AC Milan values at a world record 90 million euros, Calderon said. Zinedine Zidane's 2001 transfer to Real Madrid from Juventus for $64.5 million is the costliest transaction to date.
"We're very keen to sign Kaka,'' Calderon said. "I'm not saying that it's imminent but you'll have to keep alert in the coming days.''
Real Madrid is seeking new players and reviewing the position of coach Fabio Capello even after he led the club to the Spanish league title five days ago. That ended a three- season run without a trophy, its worst streak in 53 years.
Spanish newspapers including Marca say Madrid plans to replace Capello with Getafe's Bernd Schuster.
Champions League Flop
"We haven't even had a week to enjoy the title and already it's: is Capello staying or going?'' said Calderon. Any decision will be taken by the club's sports director Predrag Mijatovic.
Capello's job first came under scrutiny when Madrid exited to Bayern Munich in the round-of-16 of the Champions League, soccer's most lucrative club competition that earns the winner as much as 67 million pounds ($133.7 million), according to a study last year by MasterCard Inc.
Madrid's revenue growth was also stunted by the collapse in January of jersey sponsor BenQ Mobile GmbH & Co., which owes the club 10 million euros, Calderon said. BenQ's accord began in November 2005 and was to have run through 2010.
"Sadly, we're not going to get all that we are owed,'' Calderon said. The club expects about 3 million euros from the company's liquidators.
Bwin Interactive Entertainment AG, a Vienna-based online bookmaker, agreed on June 8 to become the team's jersey sponsor.
Madrid plans to sign an accord with "a big American group'' on July 17 that will help it open shops selling team merchandise and promote team tours of the U.S., Calderon said.
"The American market is very important,'' he said. "They're playing a lot more soccer in states like California and Texas.''
(Source: Bloomberg)
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