In it’s “Annual Review of Football Finance,” consulting and accounting firm Deloitte named the Bundesliga the best-earning league in Europe ahead of England’s Premier League, Spain’s La Liga and Italy’s Serie A. Germany’s top 18 football clubs generated €250 million in profit in the 2006/07 season with an 18-percent operating margin. The financial powerhouse the Premier League only managed to book €141 million in profits.

But England remained ahead in terms of overall turnover, cracking the €2-billion mark for the first time. The Premier League’s 20 teams had revenues of €2.3 billion, dwarfing the Bundesliga’s €1.4 billion. La Liga’s turnover was close behind at €1.33 billion and the Serie A dropped to €1.16 billion following the forced relegation of top club Juventus Turin.

Stefan Ludwig, senior manager for Deloitte’s sport business unit in Germany, said the Bundesliga would have a hard time ever catching the Premier League in terms of financial muscle, but was well placed to establish itself as Europe’s second strongest football league.

“Against the common trend of investing increased income into player transfers and salaries, the Bundesliga clubs are continuing with the same spending policies of recent years,” Ludwig said. “That makes the Bundesliga more attractive to potential investors, who might have shown little interest in the Bundesliga in the past.”