The Spanish champions became the first sports team anywhere to break the 500 million euro ($666 million) revenue barrier as they stayed ahead of Spanish rivals Barcelona in the Football Money League compiled by accountancy firm Deloitte.

VIEW DELOITTE'S LIST HERE

Both teams saw their income rise by 7% during the 2011-12 season with Madrid taking in 512.6 million euros ($683 million) and Barcelona 483 million euros ($643million).

While the top six teams remained unchanged, only third-place Manchester United's revenue dropped, with a fall of 3% to 320.3 million pounds ($507 million) after exiting last season’s Champions League at the group stage led to a reduction in television income.

United are followed by Bayern Munich on 368.4 million euros ($490 million), European champions Chelsea on 261 million pounds ($413 million) and Arsenal on 234.9 million pounds ($372 million).

“There is minimal economic growth in Europe yet football clubs are growing an average of 10%,” said Dan Jones, lead partner of the sports division at Deloitte.

“An unchanged top six emphasises the fact that these clubs have some of the largest fan bases and hence strongest revenues, in both domestic and international markets,” Jones added.

Manchester City leapt five places to seventh with revenue of 231.1 million pounds ($366 million) in the season that the heavy investment by the Abu Dhabi ownership delivered a first English title in 44 years. The growth is largely due to a new sponsorship deal with Etihad Airways, while the club benefited from playing in the Champions League for the first time.

But City trail United by five points in the title race and exited the Champions League in the group stage for the second successive season.

The top 20 clubs in the Deloitte list generated a combined 4.8 billion euros ($6.4 billion) in 2011/12, a 10% lift from the 2010-11 season’s top 20.

The only new entry is 20th-place Newcastle, who took Valencia’s place to return to the list after a three-year absence by generating 93.3 million pounds ($148 million) in revenue after it unexpectedly finished fifth in the league.

The complete top 20: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City, AC Milan, Liverpool, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan, Tottenham, Schalke, Napoli, Marseille, Lyon, Hamburg, AS Roma, Newcastle.