Spanish giants Real Madrid have announced a record 603.9 million-euro income ($790 milllion £480.8 million) for the 2013-14 season, thanks in large part to winning the Champions League for a 10th time in May.
Madrid’s total revenue was up 10.9 percent on last season, with the net profit slightly up from 36.9 million euros last year to 38.5 million euros.
Real also slashed their net debt by 21 percent to 71.5 million euros.
However, despite strengthening their position as the richest club in world football, Real’s board has come under fire for allowing key midfielders Angel di Maria and Xabi Alonso to leave in the final week of the transfer window last month for a combined 85 million euros.
Those departures came after the club made a combined 100 million euro splurge on World Cup stars James Rodriguez, Toni Kroos and Keylor Navas.
Madrid president Florentino Perez, though, defended his decision to allow Di Maria to leave, claiming the Argentine wanted a wage rise that would have seen him become the second highest-paid player at the club behind World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo.
“He had economic demands that we could not satisfy. We made our best offer at the highest level we could and he did not accept it,” he said.
“With the exception of Cristiano Ronaldo, who we all know is the best player in the world, no other player has that level of income.
“If we had accepted Di Maria’s economic demands there would have been unequal treatment and it could put the economic stability of the club at risk.
“When faced with his rejection of our offer we began to think about other players and brought in Rodriguez.”