For the first time in five years, Manchester United have been named the most valuable football club by Forbes. The Red Devils were valued at $3.69 billion by the American business magazine ahead of Barcelona and Real Madrid. Barcelona were valued at $3.64 billion and Real Madrid at $3.58 billion.

Man Utd most valuable football club

During the 2015-16 season, Forbes claims that United generated $765 million. This is $77 million more than Barcelona and Real Madrid. Assistant managing editor at Forbes, Mike Ozanian, spoke about United becoming football’s most valuable club for the first time since 2012.

He claims that it is Manchester United’s sponsorship and advertising that separates them from the rest of the world’s football clubs. Ahead of the 2015-16 season, Adidas became United’s new kit sponsor worth nearly $1 billion over the next 10 years. Alongside Adidas, the club are sponsored by other big companies such as Chevrolet and 20th Century Fox.

Third most valuable sports team

The Reds were named the third most valuable sports team in the world behind American football team Dallas Cowboys ($4.2 billion) and American Baseball team New York Yankees ($3.7 billion). United have moved up two places on the list after being named the fifth most valuable team last year. Spanish rivals Barcelona drop down 1 place from third to fourth whilst Real Madrid dropped 3 places to fifth.

Only seven football teams make the top 50 which equates to just 14%. German champions Bayern Munich are ranked in fifteenth place with a value of $2.71 billion. Other Premier League teams alongside United include Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea. Rivals Liverpool don’t make the list. Manchester City are valued at $2.083 billion, Arsenal at $1.93 billion and Chelsea at $1.845 billion.

58% of the list is taken up by NFL teams. No Formula 1 teams made the cut, not even Mercedes after winning the F1 title last year.

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About the author
Joshua Dawson
Sports Writer at VAVEL Twitter @JoshD122