Top 10 Richest Soccer Clubs: Barcelona, Real Madrid & Manchester United Top List of Most Valuable Soccer Teams in the World
Soccer is the most popular sport in the world today, and with all that popularity comes money -- lot of money. Teams rake in television deals, endless revenue, advertisements, ticket sales and branding like you couldn't imagine.
According to a recent report by Forbes, Real Madrid is the single most valuable soccer club in the world with a value of just over $3.2 billion. As expected, their rivals, Barcelona, come in at second place with a value just under the $3.2 billion mark. It's no surprise that Real Madrid and Barcelona have the two best players in the world in Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. They can also sign elite players such as Luis Suárez, Neymar, Claudio Bravo, Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and so many others.
Another thing to take a look at is the league. Of the top 10 most valuable clubs, all are based in Europe. Real Madrid and Barcelona are based in Spain. Five of those clubs are based in England: Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool. Italy has two teams on the list: Juventus and A.C. Milan. Germany has just one in Bayern München.
As a matter of fact, an in depth look reveals an even more startling surprise. Not only are the top 10 most valuable soccer clubs all based in Europe, but 19 of the top 20 are all based in the continent. So who is the lone wolf? Galatasaray S.K. of Turkey is the only top 20 most valuable club not based in Europe.
Unfortunately for South America, the numbers are glaringly obvious and can't be ignored. While South America produces top quality soccer talent from Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Colombia, the best players eventually find themselves in European leagues. South American leagues just can't compete with Europe in terms of player contracts.
In case you were wondering, the most valuable sports teams that aren't in soccer are the Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees, who are each worth an estimated $3.2 billion. The Los Angeles Lakers are worth $2.6 billion to top the NBA, and the Toronto Maple Leafs are the richest NHL team with just over $1 billion in value.
Below is the list of the top 10 most valuable soccer clubs in the world. They are color coded by the league they play in. Red is for Spain, green is for Italy, brown is for Germany, and black is for England.
Take a look.
1. Real Madrid ($3.26 billion)
2. Barcelona ($3.16 billion)
3. Manchester United ($3.10 billion)
4. Bayern Munich ($2.35 billion)
5. Manchester City ($1.39 billion)
6. Chelsea ($1.37 billion)
7. Arsenal ($1.31 billion)
8. Liverpool ($982 million)
9. Juventus ($837 million)
10. Milan ($775 million)
Follow Damon Salvadore on Twitter @DamonSalvadore1