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World’s most valuable soccer club brands for 2023 revealed

By our News Team | 2023

Stalwart Spanish giants Real Madrid beaten into second place this year by the continued rise of English club Manchester City.

Major sports teams now enjoy brand equity and recognition that is the envy of many big corporations around the world.

According to the latest Football 50 2023 report compiled by international brand consultancy Brand Finance, English football club Manchester City (brand value up 13% to €1.5-billion) has achieved a historic milestone by surpassing Real Madrid CF (brand value down 4% to €1.5-billion) as the most valuable football club brand.

A packed Etihad Stadium, Manchester City’s home ground. Photo by Cléria De Souza via Wikimedia Commons

The Manchester club’s brand value has seen a positive increase of 34% growth since the Covid-19 pandemic and has now reached an all-time high. It also boasts the highest revenue in this year’s table, a key driver in its ascent to the top.

“Manchester City FC has achieved an extraordinary feat by surpassing Real Madrid to become the champion of football club brands,” says Hugo Hensley, head of sports services at Brand Finance.

“For a decade now, the City team has exerted its dominance in English football, including securing four Premier League titles in the past five seasons.

“However, the club’s performance in this year’s ranking highlights that Manchester City FC is performing off the pitch in terms of building a strong brand and attracting fans and sponsors, and setting the stage for what should be an iconic 2023 Champions League final against Inter Milan,” explains Hensley.

Madrid’s brand has traditionally been dominant

Spanish club Real Madrid has long been regarded as having an unbreakable hold as soccer’s most valuable brand, due to decades of success in European club competitions and having a procession of the world’s best players within its ranks.

Manchester City, by contrast, was a relatively unknown and struggling team in the 1990s and only regained English Premier League status in 2002.

Real Madrid is now the second most valuable football club brand, with Spanish arch-rival Barcelona FC in third place.

English club Manchester United FC (brand value up 9% to €1.4-billion) now sits in fourth place, one rank ahead of its historic rival Liverpool FC (brand value up 7% to €1.4-billion).

French club Paris Saint-Germain (brand value up 10% to €1.1-billion) has moved up one rank into sixth, overtaking 2022 German rival, FC Bayern Munich, (brand value down 1% to €1.1-billion), which drops to seventh.

The top 10 is rounded out by three more English clubs: Arsenal; Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.

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