The Real Madrid brand, with a value of 1,419 million euros, continues to lead the ranking of the specialized consultant Brand Finance Football, ahead of FC Barcelona and Manchester United, and the company hopes that it will increase its dominance in the next study after taking the LaLiga Santander title.
“Today two Spanish brands in the world of football dress up the Spain Brand, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, the most valuable and strongest in their sector worldwidel. Spanish sport is undoubtedly another pride of the Spanish, “says Teresa de Lemus, managing director of Brand Finance, in a statement.
Madrid closed the 2017-2018 season with its third consecutive Champions League, but the following campaign could only win the Club World Cup and, together with the crisis caused by the coronavirus reduced its brand by 13.8%, standing at 1,419 million euros, but its solvency in previous years has made it continue to position itself in the first place. But the recent success achieved after winning the 34th League in its history augurs a better future for the entity led by Florentino Pérez, which also maintains the best brand strength index in the 'ranking', with 94.9 out of 100.
Off the pitch, Brand Finance also highlights the work of the white team after expand its commercial offer by launching an innovation brand, Real Madrid Next, whose objective is to work with technology-oriented start-up companies. Real Madrid is also taking advantage of social networks to increase the participation of its followers, with the creation of the Madridista Nation pay-per-use channel.
Second place goes to FC Barcelona with an increase of 1.4% in its brand value, which is already at 1,413 million eurosThanks, according to the consultancy, to his “leadership in Spanish national football”. An increase that has made him climb to second place, beating Manchester United, third with 1,314 million of brand value.
Liverpool, champion of the last Champions League and the current Premier League, occupies the fourth position, beating Manchester City in terms of brand value, going from 1,191 million in 2019 to 1,262 million, an increase of 6% and rising 2 places in the table. Chelsea dropped one spot in the table to eighth place after a consecutive four-year decline in their brand value which is now € 949m. It could be because the club was absent from the UEFA Champions League in addition to suffering a transfer ban after being accused of breaking the rules of financial fair play.
For his part, the other spanish club with great importance in this classification is Atlético de Madrid, which increased its value by 0.5%. All Spanish brands improve their position compared to 2019 and Real Madrid maintains first place: FC Barcelona and Atlético move up one position and are placed in second and thirteenth place, respectively; Sevilla, now in 32nd place, and Villarreal CF, in 44th, go up 3 places; Athletic Club de Bilbao climbs five places to 40; and Valencia CF is the Spanish club that experiences the highest rise, 12 places, from 48 to 36.
Also, This report weighs the importance of Spanish clubs since they obtain the highest average in terms of the Brand Strength Index of Spanish club brands. It has increased 0.8% compared to 2019 and is now at 79 out of 100, the highest in the world. Behind France follow with 75.1, United Kingdom with 74.9, Italy with 74.1 and the average of clubs in Germany with 73.2 out of 100. “Soccer is very important for Spain outside our borders and the sport par excellence that reaches our homes Football brands have been present in our culture forever and are a fundamental part of the recognition of our country abroad, “says Teresa de Lemus.
He Brand Finance Football 2020 translates into numbers the impact the coronavirus pandemic is having on football. This report already shows a clear negative trend and the 50 brands today total 19,468 million, almost 500 million less than in 2019. Although, he says, there is still to analyze to know its true impact. Before the arrival of COVID-19, Brand Finance has calculated that the sector had a value of 20,219 thousand million, so the world's most valuable soccer club brands have lost 751 million in the past pandemic months.
De Lemus focuses on the global soccer market to understand this decline: “Football was a product of the industrial revolution and it is fair to say that the modern game is a product of globalization. After the coronavirus crisis, soccer will face several challenges. The total damage has not yet been fully developed and it is not ruled out that there are victims, clubs that go bankrupt or changes of property, “he warns.