Out of all the Major League Soccer (MLS) teams in the world’s top 50, Manchester United has been crowned the most valuable football club globally.
Real Madrid ($6.06 billion), Barcelona ($5.28 billion), Liverpool ($5.11 billion), and Bayern Munich ($4.8 billion) round out the top five. United is valued at $6.2 billion, according to data collated by Sportico via The Athletic.
New York City FC, Atlanta United, Inter Miami, LA Galaxy, and Los Angeles FC are all in the top 20, with Los Angeles FC ($1.15 billion) being the highest-ranked MLS team at number fifteen.
The Premier League is the second-most represented league on the list with nine clubs in the top 50; however, their cumulative valuation of $29bn is almost double that of the 20 MLS clubs ($15.1bn).
La Liga clubs have the third highest league cumulative total at $13bn; but are represented by just three clubs (Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid) on the list.
Serie A have six clubs on the list but none in the top 10, with Juventus (11th, $1.77bn), Milan (14th, $1.2bn) and Inter (16th, $1.06bn) leading the valuations of Italian clubs.
However, the four represented clubs of the German Bundesliga ($7.6bn) eclipses the Serie A valuation ($6.1bn), with Ligue 1 ($4.8bn) ranking fifth among the European league clubs represented.
The top 50 also includes three Liga MX clubs (America, Guadalajara and Monterrey), alongside one club from the Dutch Eredivisie (Ajax), Portuguese Primeira Liga (Benfica) and Brazilian Serie A (Flamengo).
The Sportico model of club valuation is similar to the Forbes football rich list, which also monitors and calculates the total values of football clubs. Real Madrid were named the world’s most valuable club ahead of Manchester United in Forbes’ latest list, which was published in May 2023.
Sportico calculate revenue streams based on figures published by club accounts.
Revenue figures are broken down into three categories: broadcast, commercial and matchday.
Broadcast is comprised of both domestic and international media deals along with competition prize money.
Commercial revenue is based on income from sponsorships, advertising, corporate hospitality, catering and non-matchday events, with kit and stadium sponsorship agreements helping to boost these figures.
Matchday revenue is derived from ticket sales, membership income, cup competitions and preseason tickets.
