To derive the enterprise value of the world’s leading soccer clubs, Sportico calculated each team’s revenue, relying on publicly available financial statements, Deloitte’s Football Money League publication, figures compiled by soccer finance expert Kieron O’Connor and our own estimates in cases where detailed information was not available. For MLS, we used our previous valuations published in January. The values include real estate and related businesses.

Total team revenues are displayed, excluding transfer fees and value-added taxes. Revenue consists of three main buckets: broadcast, commercial and matchday. All revenue figures are displayed in U.S. dollars using the average monthly exchange rate during the 2023-24 fiscal year: £1 = $1.26 for U.K. clubs and €1 = $1.08 for teams in continental Europe. Those revenue streams include:

• Broadcast is largely comprised of both domestic and international media deals. Prize money from competitions, such as Champions League, is also included in this bucket. Manchester City had the highest broadcast revenue for the 2023-24 season at $371 million, as the club finished atop the Premier League, which has the richest TV contracts of any league, and banked nearly $120 million for its Champions League quarterfinal showing.

• Commercial revenue is derived from sponsorships, advertising, corporate hospitality, catering and non-matchday events. A team’s jersey sponsor and kit deal generate massive sums for the top clubs. Emirates pays Real Madrid more than $70 million a year to display its name on the team’s home and away jerseys, while Manchester United’s Adidas pact is worth at least $100 million a year and includes the rights to sell merchandise globally stamped with the three-stripes logo. Germany’s Bayern Munich generated a high of $455 million in commercial revenue through partners like Deutsche Telekom, Adidas, Audi and Allianz.

• Matchday revenue from ticket sales, membership income, cup competitions and preseason tickets is generally the smallest revenue component for European teams. Real Madrid generated $346 million in revenue, twice as much as any other club, thanks in part to personal seat licenses of $82 million.

Revenue totals were subject to a team-specific multiplier, which remains the standard metric for valuing sports teams in transactions. Earnings can have dramatic fluctuations from year to year, based on player spending and special expenses. In addition, most of the top 50 soccer clubs have lost money in recent years.

We conducted interviews with those knowledgeable of team finances, including sports bankers and attorneys who actively work on soccer transactions, as well as 10 individuals at firms investing in global soccer franchises. We traded candor for anonymity. This information was vetted by multiple teams and industry experts.

The team-specific multipliers were based on multiple factors, including historical sales, market (size, saturation and interest by prospective owners), strength of brand, on-field performance (historical and recent), terms of facility lease, debt burden and additional obligations, as well as expected future team and league economics. Values for European clubs were converted to U.S. dollars based on the May 3 exchange rates of €1 = $1.13 and £1 = $1.33. The Euro is up 5% versus Sportico’s 2024 soccer valuations, while the British Pound appreciated 6%.

The threat of relegation results in a dramatically larger spread in revenue multiples for European clubs than in U.S. sports leagues. Multiples ranged from 2.5 times revenue to 7.25 for Manchester United.

Revenue for European soccer clubs can fluctuate significantly from year to year based on performance in competitions, like UEFA Champions League. As a result, we utilized the last three seasons of revenue (2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24) and applied the multiples to that average as a baseline.