For a club wey don win more La Liga and Champions League titles than any oda team for earth, di last two seasons don be disappointment for Real Madrid. Dem finish behind archrival Barcelona for Spanish league standings back-to-back years, and crash out of European competition for quarterfinals each time. But for all di hand-wringing among di team’s exacting fans, business never been beta for Los Blancos.
Real Madrid record di highest revenue total for a sports team ever measured by Forbes, without adjusting for inflation. Even with Real Madrid sitting out Saturday’s Champions League final, where Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain go battle for extra $29 million prize money, Los Blancos be di world’s most valuable soccer team for di fifth year in a row, and di tenth time for di past 13 editions of Forbes’ annual ranking.
Barcelona follow for number two, as di only oda soccer club wey don ever surpass $1 billion for revenue, excluding player trading. Despite di Spanish dominance at di top, La Liga get only one additional club among di 30 most valuable soccer teams, leaving am behind England’s Premier League (11), United States’ Major League Soccer (seven), and Italy’s Serie A (four) for representation for valuation ranking. Germany’s Bundesliga get three clubs among top 30, and France’s Ligue 1 and Portugal’s Primeira Liga each get one to fill out di list.
Underdog Global Partners reportedly make bid to buy Napoli, according to report from di Athletic citing unnamed sources. For an email to investors reviewed by Forbes, Underdog no explicitly deny making di bid but say, “Anything you read for di press should be taken for wetin e be at dis stage—pure speculation.” Napoli’s $197 million for 2024-25 revenue, excluding player trading, go be extreme outlier for European soccer. At a multiple between 3x and 4x, for line with marquee Italian clubs like Inter Milan and AS Roma, Napoli go be worth less than $800 million. For contrast, NFL teams typically trade for multiples between 7x and 9x revenue, MLB 7x.
Di gap na result of numerous challenges wey make European soccer clubs less enticing to investors, starting with di promotion-relegation model. For England, di three teams wey dem demote from Premier League to second-tier Championship each year see dia annual revenue decline by tens of millions of dollars—a threat wey loom over even well-established clubs like Tottenham Hotspur, wey narrowly avoid relegation dis season. European leagues also confront a more tepid market for media rights dan many of dia American counterparts and must grapple with a less commercialized sporting culture more broadly. Liverpool, for instance, dey dial back planned ticket price increases for face of fan protests after charging average of $99 for 2025—more dan most of European rivals but less dan half di comparable figure for top NFL franchises. In addition, European soccer lack salary cap, and di arms race for di most talented players traditionally make di sport a fairly unprofitable enterprise.
Those factors, among others, help explain why Real Madrid lag well behind di $13 billion valuation of di NFL’s Cowboys even though e get edge for revenue. Still, di Atlético sale, along with some transactions involving lower-profile teams outside di 30 most valuable soccer clubs, show say investors’ interest fit dey grow. Stoking di enthusiasm, teams wey finish high for dia domestic league’s standings gain access to increasingly lucrative continental tournaments such as di Champions League, wey reportedly poised for 20% increase for media rights fees for di cycle wey begin for 2027, and a wave of new and renovated stadiums go help revenue continue to grow at di local level. Real Madrid and England’s Everton be among di clubs wey recently unveil significant venue upgrades, and projects dey expected to complete over di next few years at Barcelona, Manchester United, and AS Roma, and for Milan, where AC Milan and Inter Milan dey collaborate to replace di historic San Siro.
However, di biggest driver of valuations right now na di influx of American investors desperate to break into sports ownership. Americans or Canadians control nine of Serie A’s 20 teams, as well as three clubs for La Liga after Apollo’s purchase of Atlético. For Mexico, Atlanta-based Innovatio Capital acquire Liga MX’s Querétaro for July and New York’s General Atlantic take 49% stake for Club América for December. “There are just so many Americans with cash who like sports, and di American market is kind of closed off to a lot of dese owners,” one European soccer insider says. “If you be American millionaire from North Carolina, you probably priced out of your local USL club, and you definitely priced out of an MLS club—dat be like cash billionaires now. But if you fit buy an English football club—maybe even though dem all di way down di system—at one times revenue, when a USL club dey probably trade at anywhere from seven to 15 times revenue, dat probably a no-brainer.”
