Real Madrid, the most valuable football club in Europe for the fourth year running
According to a report compiled by the European Elite 2022, Real Madrid is valued at €3.184 billion.
Real Madrid is, for the fourth year running, the most valuable football club in Europe - worth €3.184 billion according to the European Elite 2022 report published by the Football Benchmark business data platform, now celebrating its seventh edition of its analysis of the 32 most powerful clubs on the continent. Madrid is the only club out of the 32 listed to be valued over €3 billion. They are followed by Manchester United (€2.883 billion), Barcelona (€2.814 billion), Bayern Munich (€2.749 billion) and Liverpool (€2.556 billion).
For Madrid, their valuation represents a 9% increase on last season’s although down on pre-pandemic levels between 2010 and 2020 (€3.478 billion). United meanwhile, moved up and place into second, with Barcelona dropping down to third. There are three newcomers in the top 32 - West Ham return after one year away, while Aston Villa and and Eintracht Frankfurt appear for the first time. A total of 10 Premier League clubs were in the list.
Football Benchmark CEO Andrea Sartori explained, “Real Madrid CF have extended their lead at the top due to continuous sporting and commercial success. Most impressively, they are one of the few top clubs who registered a net profit, although not very significant, in both seasons impacted by the pandemic”.
The report highlighted Madrid’s success at containing costs (during the 2020-21 season, the club destined 63% of their revenue towards paying players’ salaries compared to, for example, the 88% costs-to-revenue ratio which Barça paid out) and a squad which is valued lower than many of their rivals. “While their squad value of €815M as at January 2022 was only the seventh most valuable, their ageing stars show time and time again their class, progressing to the Champions League semi-finals in 2020/21 and competing in the final in the on-going 2021/22 season,” Football Benchmark added.
In another section of the report, it was predicted that Madrid’s remodelled Santiago Bernabéu stadium will bring in investment of between 800 and 900 million euros, exceeding original expectations to give the club a massive revenue boost and, potentially, a competitive advantage over their European peers.