Forget Neymar’s insane £198 million transfer to Ligue 1 in France. England’s Premier League is home to the world’s most valuable football club in Manchester United − and has six teams in the global top ten.
The new Premier League season kicks off on Friday with its status as the world’s most lucrative football league unchallenged. Domestic and international TV rights sales stand at £2.8 billion per season to 2019, reports Deloitte.
Premier League clubs spent £1.41 billion on new players in the 2016/17 season. Furthermore, the average top flight player receives a jaw-dropping £47,000-a-week.
In addition, the Premier League is now home to the world’s most valuable club in Manchester United. Here’s the list of the world’s top three most valuable clubs plus some more key stats from Forbes’ 2017 soccer rich list.
1) Manchester United
Manchester United have nutmegged Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona to become the world’s richest club. The Red Devils are valued at £2.8 billion having produced record revenues of £513 million.
The club managed by Jose Mourinho also attracted £310 million in advertising and sponsorship revenue. Manchester United are also the most profitable football team in the world, posting operating income of almost £221 million. In addition, the club’s new kit deal with Adidas is worth a cool £75 million a year to 2025.
Furthermore, United have also qualified for the world’s richest annual sports competition, the Champions League. As such, experts predict they may become the first sports team to produce $1 billion in yearly revenue by 2020.
Not bad for a club founded in 1878 by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.
2) FC Barcelona
Valued at more than €3.3 billion, Barcelona boast arguably the world’s greatest player in Lionel Messi. However, the Spanish giants were pipped to top spot in the global list, with revenue of €620 million and operating income of €92 million.
Barcelona recently signed an extension of their kit deal with Nike worth €835 million over ten years. As such, the Catalan club smashed Manchester United’s previous record €827 million deal with Adidas.
3) Real Madrid
Barcelona’s bitter rivals won the domestic and Champions League double last season.
However, in terms of value the team from the Spanish capital slipped to third place in Forbes’ rich list. Real Madrid is valued at €3.3 billion, with revenue of €620 million and operating income of €163 million. Nonetheless, they lost out to Barcelona in terms of broadcasting and commercial revenue.
Premier League domination
The top five of Forbes’ most valuable clubs was rounded out by German giants Bayern Munich and Manchester City. Domestic and global television rights ensured that four other Premier League teams − Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham – made the top ten.
Unsurprisingly, the Premier League had the biggest domestic and international television deals, followed by Germany’s Bundesliga. The top Champions League earners of 2015-16 were Manchester City, ahead of Real Madrid and Juventus. Barcelona topped the earners list in terms of shirt and kit sponsorship deals.
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