From Real Madrid to LA Galaxy - the 30 most valuable football clubs in the world revealed

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 10 Nov 2025 05:47 CST
• 5 min read

Analysis

Real Madrid have retained their status as the most valuable football club on the planet, according to Forbes.

For the fourth year in a row, and the ninth time in the past 12 editions of Forbes' list, Los Blancos top the list of the most valuable clubs.

Madrid have seen a 2% increase in their value since the previous list in 2024 and are officially valued at $6.75 billion. There are only two clubs or teams in the history of sport that have posted revenue over a billion dollars for a single year - Real Madrid and the NFL's Dallas Cowboys.

The closest another football club has come to that figure is the Premier League's Manchester City, who recorded revenue of $901m in the 2023/24 campaign.

It is Man City's fierce rivals Manchester United who are second on the list of most valuable teams, however, with value recorded by Forbes at $6.6bn, once again ahead of third-placed Barcelona, valued at $5.65bn.

Here's Forbes' methodology for calculating the Valuations:

"Forbes’ team valuations are enterprise values (equity plus net debt) based on historical transactions and the future economics of each league and each team. For teams based in Europe, revenue and operating income (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) reflect the 2023-24 season and are rounded to the nearest $1 million. For U.S. clubs, figures reflect the 2024 regular season and are taken from Forbes’ annual MLS team valuations, published in February.

"The team values include the economics of each team’s stadium but not the value of the stadium real estate itself. Equity stakes in other sports-related assets and mixed-use real estate projects are also excluded.

"Forbes excludes player trading and disposals of player registrations from its operating income and revenue tabulations. Debt is measured in terms of interest-bearing borrowings due in more than one year (including stadium debt). Because enterprise value is a capital-structure-neutral metric, it allows Forbes to compare teams with different debt and equity structures.

"Where necessary, revenue and operating income numbers are converted to U.S. dollars based on the average exchange rate during the season (€1 = $1.08, £1 = $1.26, £1 = €1.16).

"The information used to compile Forbes’ valuations came from teams’ annual reports and documents, team executives, soccer team investors, credit rating agency reports and sports bankers, as well as the annual Deloitte Football Money League report and the soccer finance reporter known as Swiss Ramble."

The top 30 includes 12 teams from the Premier League, four from Serie A, three from La Liga, two from Bundesliga and one from Ligue 1. There are eight teams from Major League Soccer in the United States.

The overall valuation of the top 30 is around $72 billion which makes for an average of $2.4bn - a 5% increase from 2024.

Real Madrid may be the most valuable football club, but their value pales in comparison to the most valuable brand in all of sport - the Dallas Cowboys, who are valued at $10.1bn.

Certain ownership and ticket price restrictions around Europe mean the uber-capitalist nature of Major League Soccer is allowing for more growth across the pond. For example, LA Galaxy are worth $100m more than Aston Villa even though they record a third of the Premier League side's revenue.

There are outliers, though, as the value of Arsenal and Newcastle increased by 31% and 38% respectively over the last year.

The original list by Forbes was released in May and then updated in July, so next year's figures will look significantly different. Chelsea, for example, received a huge boost in revenue as the won the Club World Cup in the USA over the summer.

Most Valuable Football Clubs in the World

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