eBusiness Weekly
There’s a ludicrous amount of money swishing about in football and that’s been the case for many years now.
The world’s best players are paid an absolute fortune — it won’t be long before a player earns £1 million a week — while the top football clubs are worth billions of pounds.
TV money for football clubs in the top tiers of Europe’s big leagues is higher than its ever been before and the biggest teams, rightly or wrongly, will continue to get richer and richer.
But football is not the only sport with teams worth billions.
Forbes have published a list of the world’s 50 most valuable sports teams of 2020, and it may come as a surprise to hear that only seven football clubs are listed.
The list is dominated by teams from the big American sports: American Football, basketball and baseball.
That said, three football clubs have made this year’s top 10.
Arsenal are the first of the seven football clubs to feature.
The north London outfit, who were purchased in 2011 for a fee worth $1,1 billion, are owned by American businessman Stan Kroenke.
Roman Abramovich famously bought Chelsea back in 2003 for $233 million.
The Blues, who have lifted plenty of silverware since the Russian billionaire took charge at Stamford Bridge, are now worth over 10 times that amount.
Manchester City have enjoyed the vast majority of their success since Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan completed his 2008 takeover.
Forbes say City cost $385 million at the time but are now worth a staggering $2.69 billion 12 years later.’
The only German club to make Forbes’ list, the hugely successful Bundesliga giants are owned by its club members.
Manchester United are the most valuable football club in England right now, according to Forbes’ latest research.
The Glazer family completed a deeply unpopular takeover of the club back in 2005 — a deal which was worth $1,4 billion.
Despite their uneasy relationship with the club’s fans, they remain in charge at Old Trafford 15 years later.
The second most valuable football club in 2020, Lionel Messi is surely at least partially responsible for Barcelona being this high up on the list.
The world’s best footballer has inspired the Catalan giants to numerous trophies over the past decade-and-a-half and football fans travel to Camp Nou from all over the world in order to watch the Argentine in the flesh.
But it won’t come as shock to hear that Real Madrid are the world’s most valuable football club.
The Spanish giants, who have won the European Cup more times than any other team, are now worth an eye-watering $4,24 billion.
LA Lakers, New York Knicks, New York Yankees . . . it’s no surprise to see these famous American sporting institutions in the top five.
But Dallas Cowboys at the very top of the list, worth half-a-billion dollars more than any other team in the world, is rather eye-opening. — Online.
