London: the world's richest football city

According to figures announced today, the capital has three entries in the top 20 wealthiest clubs in the world, earning a combined revenue of more than £471million last year.

That comfortably beats the next richest football city, Milan, by almost £187m with Madrid, which boasts the world's wealthiest club in Real Madrid, third.

London's trio of rich clubs are Chelsea, who climbed two places to place fourth in the top-20 rich list with a revenue of £190.5m in 2007, followed closely by Arsenal in fifth position with £177.6m. Tottenham are in 11th place, having earned £103.1m.

AC Milan, meanwhile, earned £153m over the same period to finish in sixth place, with Inter ninth on £131.3m.

The Football Money League, from business advisory firm Deloitte, will inevitably reinforce critics of the Premier League's controversial plan to exploit foreign markets by playing a 39th game abroad when its clubs appear to be awash with money.

Manchester United are in second place with a 2007 revenue of £212m and are expected to close in on Madrid if they do well in the Champions League and when they begin to earn income from the new £2.7billion TV rights deals.

Dan Jones, from Deloitte, said: "Arsenal's move to the Emirates Stadium has transformed their revenues, while Chelsea's revenue increase sees them return to the top five."

Still bankrolled by billionaire owner Roman Abramovich, Chelsea's revenue rose £37.7m from the previous year but even that was bettered by Arsenal who, fortified by the increased income from their new 60,000-seater stadium, went up by £44.6m over the same period.

Football at the top level remains a booming sport, with the top 20 clubs' respective revenues growing by 11 per cent to £2.5b in 2006/07, the highest rate of growth for four seasons.

The global top 20 of rich clubs is exclusively populated by European sides and England, with six, has the largest representation. Liverpool are in eighth place (£133.9m), while Newcastle are 14th (£87.1m).

West Ham, who were 19th in the rich list in 2006 after finishing 10th in the Premier League and reaching the FA Cup Final, have dropped out in 2007 but they are expected to recover their position next year when the new TV deal kick in.

Other English clubs, such as Aston Villa and Manchester City, are expected to feature in an English-dominated bottom half of next year's league table.