The piles of cash thrown off by European soccer competitions is a big reason why Real Madrid, worth $ 5.1 billion, 7% more than last year, has reclaimed its spot as the world’s most valuable soccer team.
By Mike Ozanian
By capturing a record 35th domestic league title in 2021-22, Real Madrid will generate the most revenue in La Liga and by qualifying for a record eighth Champions League final (to be played this Saturday against Liverpool) Real Madrid will earn over $ 100 million. In addition, it was announced last week that Real Madrid, currently undergoing an $ 850 million stadium renovation, secured $ 379 million as part of an agreement with Sixth Street and Legends in which Sixth Street “acquired the right to participate in the operation of certain businesses of the new Santiago Bernabéu stadium for a period of twenty years. To pay for its new stadium Real Madrid borrowed an additional $ 236 million from JP Morgan and Bank of America in November, bringing total borrowings from the banks to $ 842 million.
Real Madrid. which last held the top spot in 2019 (Forbes did not compile soccer team values in 2020) has now been the most valuable soccer team six of our 18 rankings (Manchester United leads with 11, most recently in 2018).
Barcelona is moving even more aggressively on the stadium front, spending $ 1.6 billion to build the largest soccer stadium in Europe. To pay for it, they signed a multi-year $ 458 million shirt and stadium sponsorship deal with Spotify and are reportedly close to nearing a $ 960 million deal with Goldman Sachs and All Sport Finance in exchange for a 30% stake of Barcelona’s broadcast revenues and a portion of future revenues from the reserve new stadium complex. Worth $ 5 billion, 6% more than a year ago, Barcelona is the second most valuable soccer team and are tied with the NFL’s New England Patriots as the seventh most valuable team in any sport.
Rounding out the top three is Manchester United, up 10% to $ 4.6 billion. The Red Devils have by far the most supporters of any English team and with $ 128 million of operating income during 2020-21, were the second-most profitable team on our list. But Manchester United was eliminated in the Champions League round of 16 this year and their sixth-place finish in the Premier League this season means they will miss out on 2022-23 Champions League prize money.
THE WORLD’S MOST VALUABLE TEAMS
Indeed, even with a dearth of fans at games due to Covid during the 2020-21 season the average value of the top 20 teams increased 10% from the prior year, to $ 2.53 billion (in Euro the average value this year was 2.38 billion, 15.6% more than last year). And they are financially muscular. Operating income (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and player trading) was $ 860 million on $ 9.68 billion of revenue. Average debt / value: 9%.
AVERAGE TEAM VALUES
(IN OF TEAMS)
Why? The top soccer teams are global brands with a massive number of supporters, monetized in large part with rich television deals. Consider earlier this month a group led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital plucked down $ 3.1 billion — second to only the $ 3.2 billion paid for the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets in 2019 — to buy Chelsea from Roman Abramovich and also promised to commit another $ 2.16 billion in future investments , including the stadiums used by Chelsea’s men’s (Stamford Bridge) and women’s (Kingsmeadow) soccer teams.
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Under the right ownership, tarnished brands can be quickly turned back into gems. Consider AC Milan. The Italian side was in financial ruins with negative equity of $ 37 million when Elliott Management took them over after its owner defaulted on a loan payment in 2018. Elliott invested hundreds of millions of capital into AC Milan, eliminating almost all of the debt debt, lowered player spending relative to revenue and the team ended fiscal 2021 with positive equity of $ 70 million. At the same time, AC Milan improved on the pitch. Last May the team qualified for the Champions League for the first time in seven years and this season captured its first Serie A title in 11 years (you can watch my interview with Elliott Management’s Giorgio Furlani. Below). The investment firm may soon sell AC Milan for in excess of $ 1.1 billion.
WORLD SOCCER VALUE 2022
Real Madrid
Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno / Getty Images
1. REAL MADRID
Value: $ 5.1 billion
1-Yr Change: 7%
Owner: Club members
Operating Income: $ 90 million
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Barcelona
Siu Wu / picture alliance / Getty Images
2. BARCELONA
Value: $ 5.1 billion
1-Yr Change: 5%
Owner: Club members
Operating Income: $ 17 million
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Manchester United FC
Manchester United / Getty Images
3. MANCHESTER UNITED
Value: $ 4.6 billion
1-Yr Change: 10%
Owner: Glazer Family
Operating Income: $ 128 million
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Liverpool
Chris Brunskill / Fantasista
4. LIVERPOOL
Value: $ 4.45 billion
1-Yr Change: 9%
Owner: John Henry, Tom Werner
Operating Income: $ 104 million
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Bayern Munich
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5. BAYERN MUNICH
Value: $ 4.275 billion
1-Yr Change: 1%
Owner: Club members
Operating Income: $ 102 million
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Manchester City
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6. MANCHESTER CITY
Value: $ 4.25 billion
1-Yr Change: 6%
Owner: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Operating Income: $ 156 million
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Paris Saint-Germain
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7. PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN
Value: $ 3.2 billion
1-Yr Change: 28%
Owner: Qatar Sports Investments
Operating loss: $ 102 million
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Chelsea
Laurence Griffiths / Getty Images
8. CHELSEA
Value: $ 3.1 billion
1-Yr Change: -3%
Owner: Todd Boehly, Clearlake Capital
Operating Income: $ 45 million
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Juventus
Stefano Guidi / Getty Images
9. JUVENTUS
Value: $ 2.45 billion
1-Yr Change: 26%
Owner: Agnelli Family
Operating Income: $ 26 million
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Tottenham Hotspur
Chris Brunskill / Getty Images
10. TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Value: $ 2.35 billion
1-Yr Change: 2%
Owner: Joseph Lewis, Daniel Levy
Operating Income: $ 127 million
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Arsenal
Julian Finney / Getty Images
11. ARSENAL
Value: $ 2.05 billion
1-Yr Change: -27%
Owner: E. Stanley Kroenke
Operating Income: $ 53 million
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Borussia Dortmund
Alexandre Simoes / Borussia Dortmund / Getty Images
12. BORUSSIA DORTMUND
Value: $ 1.8 billion
1-Yr Change: -5%
Owner: Bernd Geske, Evonik Industries
Operating Income: $ 20 million
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Atletico Madrid
David S. Bustamante / Soccrates / Getty Images
13. ATHLETIC OF MADRID
Value: $ 1.5 billion
1-Yr Change: 50%
Owner: Miguel Gil, Enrique Cerezo, Ares Management
Operating Income: $ 45 million
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AC Milan
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14. AC MILAN
Value: $ 1.2 billion
1-Yr Change: 115%
Owner: Elliot Management
Operating Loss: $ 16 million
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INTER MILAN
Jonathan Moscrop / Getty Images
15. INTER MILAN
Value: $ 1.0 billion
1-Yr Change: 35%
Owner: Zhang Jindong, LionRock Capital
Operating Income: $ 3 million
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Everton
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16. EVERTON
Value: $ 940 million
1-Yr Change: 43%
Owner: Farhad Moshiri
Operating Loss: $ 20 million
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Leicester City
LINDSEY PARNABY / AFP / Getty Images
17. LEICESTER CITY
Value: $ 925 million
1-Yr Change: 103%
Owner: Khun Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha
Operating Income: $ 16 million
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West Ham United
Alex Broadway / Getty Images
18. WEST HAM UNITED
Value: $ 900 million
1-Yr Change: 77%
Owner: David Sullivan, David Gold
Operating Income: $ 42 million
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Leeds United
Michael Regan / Getty Images
19. LEEDS UNITED
Value: $ 800 million
1-Yr Change: Not Rated
Owner: Andrea Radrizzani, 49ers Enterprises
Operating Income: $ 51 million
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Aston Villa
Catherine Ivill / Getty Images
20. ASTON VILLA
Value: $ 750 million
1-Yr Change: Not Rated
Owner: Wes Edens, Nassef Sawiris
Operating Income: $ 12 million
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METHODOLOGY
The revenues and operating income listed are for the 2020-2021 season, converted to US dollars based on average exchange rates during that season (1 euro = $ 1.188, 1 GBP = $ 1.340). Revenue are proceeds the soccer team generates from broadcasting, commercial and matchday events. Team values are enterprise values (equity plus net debt) and include the economics of the low stadium (but exclude the value of the real estate itself), based on comparable transactions. Operating income is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, player trading and disposal of player registrations. Debt is interest-bearing borrowings due in more than one year (including stadium debt). “NR” indicates a team was not ranked last year. The exchange rates used to convert team values and debt to US dollars (1 euro = $ 1.053, 1 GBP = $ 1.247) are as of May 17, 2022. Sources include team annual reports and documents, team executives, credit rating agency reports, sports bankers and Deloitte Football Money League.
CREDITS
Header image: Kylian Mbappe of Paris SG, Sylvain Lefevre / Getty; Lionel Messi of PSG, Jonathan Moscrop / Getty; Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City, Marc Atkins / Getty; Neymar, Tnani Badreddine / DeFodi Images / Getty; Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United, Matthew Ashton / AMA / Getty; Erling Haland of Dortmund Matthias Hangst / Getty; Robert Lewandowski of Bayern Muenchen / Stefan Matzke – sampics / Corbis / Getty; Soccer Balls, Paul Taylor / Getty.
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