Real Madrid is, for the fourth consecutive season, the most valuable club in the world. The business value of the white entity amounts to 3,184 million eurosaccording to the annual report The European Elite 2022: Football Clubs’ Valuation of Football Benchmark, which celebrates its seventh edition in the analysis of the 32 most powerful clubs in Europe. That figure represents a revaluation of 9% compared to last season. Madrid is the only club that exceeds the barrier of 3,000 million in value. “Real Madrid extends its leadership thanks to its continuous commercial and sporting successes,” explains Andrea Sartorifounder and CEO of Football Benchmark.
The report precisely highlights the merit of Real Madrid with its cost containment policy (in the 2020-21 season the club allocated 63% of its income to salary costs compared to, for example, the 88% dedicated by Barça) and a template with lower appraisal than those of its rivals. “While its squad, worth €815m, is the seventh most valuable, its veteran stars prove their class time and time againprogressing to the Champions League semi-finals last season and competing in the final now,” highlights Football Benchmark.
In a context of a pandemic where losses were widespread (of the 32 clubs analysed, only five made a profit during the period of the health crisis), Madrid managed to close their accounts with a positive result. This despite the fact that store sales fell by 50% and the closure of the Bernabéu has meant losing revenue of 84 million euros. “Admirably, it is one of the few clubs that recorded a net profit in the two years impacted by the pandemic”emphasizes Sartori.
Business value of the 32 most relevant clubs in Europe.
Football Benchmark
The Football Benchmark study assesses the 32 selected clubs based on five main pillars: profitability, sporting potential, television rights, ownership of the stadium and popularity, the latter measured, among other criteria, by its impact on social networks. “The more than 279 million followers [a enero de 2022] that the club has on the networks attest to its enormous commercial appeal,” says the report, which also highlights the opportunities that the stadium’s refurbishment will provide. The new Bernabéu, he predicts, “will give the Madrid club a huge increase in revenue and potentially a comparative advantage over other major European clubs and their historic rival, Barcelona”.
Barça, Atlético, Sevilla, Valencia and Villarreal, on the list
Five other Spanish clubs appear among the 32 most powerful in Europe. Barça, whose business value is valued at 2,814 million euros, is third, behind Manchester United (2,883 million euros). There is no other LaLiga club in the top-10, which is dominated by five Premier teams (Liverpool, City, Chelsea and Tottenham, in addition to United), a German (Bayern), a French (PSG) and an Italian (Youth). Atlético is 12th, with an estimated value of 1,234 million euros. In the Football Benchmark ranking also appear the Sevilla (25th, with a value of 390 million euros), the Valencia (26th, €385 million) and the Villarreal (31st, valued at €303M).