h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

In all the media coverage of Chelsea's week, I've seen plenty of media coverage referring to Rosenborg BK as minnows, a small team, or even unknowns.

This ignorance is amazing- "little-known team" Rosenborg haveb been in the knockout rounds of the Champions League three times in 12 years, the group stage most seasons, and have won the Norweigan league in 14 of the alst 15 eyars. may as well talk about the tiny, insignificant, unknown club of Glasgow Celtic. If British football journalists haven't heard of them, this says more about the state of British football journalism than it does about the team.

Excuse me Egon, but you're showing a staggering lack of football knowledge. There are only four professional football teams in existence;

Manchester United, who are the most powerful team in creation.
Arsenal, who are the most majestic and beautiful football team in creation.
Chelsea, who are the most efficient football team in creation.
Liverpool, who are the most sinned against football team in creation.

These clubs have the greatest stadia, players, fans and managers and are only besmirched by d*ckheads wearing black who try and stifle their inevitable victories, and pub teams such as Totteringham Hotspurs, Evertown and New Castle.

So spoketh Sky and Suh Tan Tah, and it was true, and all did rejoice.

No, Rosenborg really *are* a small team inspite of their domestic and European successes. I've done a bit of digging to get information on club revenue, and I've got what I think is a fairly inclusive list for 2005/06 (in US$) and Rosenborg are at a fraction of that Scottish minnow, Celtic. So all in all: well done you plucky Norwegians in derailing the Special One

Real Madrid 466 Spain

FC Barcelona 352 Spain

Juventus FC 341 Italy

Manchester United FC 340 England

AC Milan 337 Italy

Chelsea FC 304 England

FC Internazionale Milano 286 Italy

FC Bayern Munich 278 Germany

Arsenal FC 268 England

Liverpool FC 242 England

Newcastle United FC 174 England

Olympique Lyonnais 173 France

AS Roma 172 Italy

FC Schalke 04 157 Germany

Tottenham Hotspur FC 150 England

Hamburger SV 141 Germany

Sevilla FC 132 Spain

Valencia CF 132 Spain

Manchester City FC 125 England

Rangers FC 124 Scotland

West Ham United FC 121 England

Borussia Dortmund 121 Germany

Everton FC 117 England

Celtic FC 116 Scotland

Olympique de Marseille 116 France

Bolton Wanderers FC 111 England

VfB Stuttgart 111 Germany

SS Lazio 110 Italy

Paris Saint-Germain FC 109 France

Bayer 04 Leverkusen 106 Germany

Middlesbrough FC 105 England

SV Werder Bremen 105 Germany

Deportivo de La Coruña 103 Spain

AFC Ajax 101 Netherlands

Fenerbahçe SK 100 Turkey

Aston Villa FC 99 England

FC Copenhagen 98 Denmark

Lille OSC 92 France

Reading FC 91 England

Udinese Calcio 91 Italy

Hertha BSC Berlin 90 Germany

RC Lens 89 France

Borussia Mönchengladbach 89 Germany

Blackburn Rovers FC 88 England

Bologna FC 1909 88 Italy

SL Benfica 86 Portugal

PSV Eindhoven 85 Netherlands

Villarreal CF 85 Spain

Charlton Athletic FC 85 England

FC Shakhtar Donetsk 84 Ukraine

ACF Fiorentina 81 Italy

Birmingham City FC 81 England

Fulham FC 80 England

FC Girondins de Bordeaux 80 France

Sunderland AFC 79 England

Atlético Madrid 76 Spain

US Città di Palermo 73 Italy

Portsmouth FC 73 England

VfL Wolfsburg 72 Germany

Eintracht Frankfurt 72 Germany

West Bromwich Albion FC 72 England

Watford FC 71 England

Wigan Athletic FC 70 England

FC Zenit Saint Petersburg 70 Russia

AJ Auxerre 65 France

São Paulo FC 65 Brazil

FC Porto 62 Portugal

Athletic Bilbao 61 Spain

AS Monaco FC 61 France

Leeds United AFC 61 England

FC Lokomotiv Moscow 60 Russia

FC Nantes Atlantique 59 France

SC Internacional 57 Brazil

Stade Rennais FC 57 France

RCD Espanyol 56 Spain

AS Saint-Étienne 55 France

Sheffield United FC 55 England

FC Köln 55 Germany

FC Red Bull Salzburg 54 Austria

Sporting CP 54 Portugal

Real Zaragoza 54 Spain

Hannover 96 51 Germany

Southampton FC 51 England

Feyenoord Rotterdam 51 Netherlands

FC Spartak Moscow 50 Russia

Real Sociedad 50 Spain

Norwich City FC 50 England

Urawa Reds 49 Japan

PFC CSKA Moscow 49 Russia

FC Nürnberg 49 Germany

Leicester City FC 48 England

Wolverhampton Wanderers FC 48 England

FC Kaiserslautern 47 Germany

UC Sampdoria 47 Italy

MSV Duisburg 47 Germany

Brescia Calcio 47 Italy

Olympiacos 46 Greece

Club Deportivo Guadalajara 45 Mexico

FC Dynamo Kyiv 45 Ukraine

Club America 45 Mexico

OGC Nice 44 France

RSC Anderlecht 43 Belgium

Hellas Verona FC 43 Italy

Real Betis 43 Spain

SSC Napoli 43 Italy

FSV Mainz 05 42 Germany

FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 42 France

FC Basel 42 Switzerland

Levante UD 42 Spain

Arminia Bielefeld 42 Germany

FC Messina Peloro 41 Italy

Le Mans Union Club 72 41 France

Parma FC 40 Italy

RCD Mallorca 40 Spain

Crystal Palace FC 40 England

Toulouse FC 40 France

Yokohama F. Marinos 39 Japan

AS Nancy 39 France

Cagliari Calcio 39 Italy

CR Flamengo 38 Brazil

CF Pachuca 37 Mexico

Racing de Santander 37 Spain

FC Energie Cottbus 36 Germany

Reggina Calcio 36 Italy

Club Brugge KV 35 Belgium

Torino FC 34 Italy

Derby County FC 34 England

Treviso FBC 1993 34 Italy

RC Strasbourg 34 France

CA River Plate 33 Argentina

SC Corinthians Paulista 33 Brazil

CA Boca Juniors 33 Argentina

Ipswich Town FC 33 England

SE Palmeiras 33 Brazil

FC Metz 33 France

Celta de Vigo 33 Spain

AC ChievoVerona 33 Italy

CD Málaga 32 Spain

Troyes AC 32 France

Júbilo Iwata 31 Japan

CA Osasuna 31 Spain

SC Heerenveen 31 Netherlands

AS Livorno Calcio 31 Italy

Kashiwa Reysol 31 Japan

Bradford City AFC 31 England

Alemannia Aachen 30 Germany

Nagoya Grampus Eight 30 Japan

TSV 1860 München 30 Germany

AC Siena 30 Italy

FC Terek Grozny 30 Russia

Galatasaray SK 29 Turkey

Cruzeiro EC 29 Brazil

Getafe CF 29 Spain

Ascoli Calcio 1898 29 Italy

Empoli FC 29 Italy

Besiktas JK 28 Turkey

AZ Alkmaar 28 Netherlands

Fluminense FC 27 Brazil

Beitar Jerusalem FC 27 Israel

FC Dynamo Moscow 27 Russia

CF Atlas 27 Mexico

Gamba Osaka 27 Japan

Club Deportivo Cruz Azul 27 Mexico

Santos FC 27 Brazil

Los Angeles Galaxy 25 United States

FC Tokyo 25 Japan

Kashima Antlers 25 Japan

Al-Ahly 26 Egypt

Tokyo Verdy 1969 25 Japan

FC Krylya Sovetov Samara 25 Russia

CF Monterrey 25 Mexico

Shimizu S-Pulse 25 Japan

FK Khazar Lenkoran 25 Azerbaijan

VfL Bochum 24 Germany

Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense 24 Brazil

KRC Genk 24 Belgium

Calcio Catania 24 Italy

Deportivo Alavés 24 Spain

Brøndby IF 23 Denmark

FK Austria Wien 23 Austria

Rosenborg BK 23 Norway

here's a way of looking at rosenborg that makes you wonder if platini's suggestions for the CL (mind you i like his ideas in general) would be good for the minnow leagues: RFK's budget may seem puny by EPL standards, but it towers over that of the other clubs in norway, and the lion's share of it comes from... their continual presence in the CL.

even on the relatively higher level of france, you can argue that CL money has tilted the playing field: OL has the highest budget in L1, but if you take away the money earned on the playing field (including peace cup, domestic cup showings, and other performance related bonuses, but largely CL money) both OM and PSG would have higher budgets.

"even on the relatively higher level of france, you can argue that CL money has tilted the playing field"

Up until the foreign billionaire invasion, you could level the same accusations at the Prem.

It always was that way - I remember a meeting at Coventry where the director held up a Coventry shirt - we sell 35,000 of these he said, and that's a valuable income to the club. He held up a Man Utd shirt and said they sell 650,000 of these - and that's why we're selling Gary Gillespie to Liverpool.



*NB figures may not be entirely accurate.