The world’s most valuable football team is worth more than £1.4 billion, according to research by a team of football brainiacs.
In a strong indication of the Premier League’s enormous wealth, six of the top ten teams come from England, according to figures compiled by the CIES Football Observatory.
Cristiano Ronaldo will be relieved to at least see his Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr sneak into the top 100, finishing in 97th place with a value of £104 million, but the big money is still in Europe.
Eggheads from the respected CIES research body have compiled the estimated total transfer values for clubs around the world and compiled the top 100.
And Real Madrid take the gong for highest squad value, with Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe contributing a whopping £1.45 billion.
According to football experts, Real Madrid has the highest squad value (€1.45 billion) in football
Erling Haaland’s prolific performance is only enough to leave Man City second with £1.23 billion
Man United are still in the top 10, but slightly behind their eighth-place rivals (£828m)
Chelsea’s extravagant investment in young talent has catapulted them to third place (£1.16 billion)
In a win for LaLiga, they make Manchester City look like a cheap skate by making City look like a cheap skate at £1.23 billion – more than £200 million less.
And Manchester United have significant catching up to do from eighth place at £828m.
That’s not much more than the £617 million they dumped on the transfer market during Erik ten Hag’s tenure.
Chelsea (£1.16bn), Arsenal (£1.03bn) and Barcelona (£941m) – despite their financial problems – round out the top five.
However, Chelsea’s figures are slightly skewed as a total of 54 players were counted following trigger-happy recruitment under Todd Boehly and BlueCo. In the top 100 clubs, only Boca Juniors have more with 62.
Arne Slot’s Liverpool will have something to say about his exclusion from the top five. They have to settle for sixth place with a team value of £920 million.
With Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mo Salah and Alisson all in the final years of their contracts, that figure is lower than it would ideally be for the Reds.
Paris Saint-Germain (£911m) are seventh, ahead of United, while Tottenham (£742m) and Bayer Leverkusen (£722m) sneak into the top 10.
Arsenal are thriving in fourth place with a total team value of £1.03 billion, led by young stars like Bukayo Saka
Bayern Munich only managed to finish twelfth, behind Brighton and Bayer Leverkusen
With several big contracts expiring, Liverpool are left out of the top five (£920m)
That’s right: Leverkusen has the most valuable squad in Germany, dripping with coveted talents like Florian Wirtz and Jeremy Frimpong.
Heavyweights Bayern Munich have their tails between their legs in 12th place with a team value of £670 (sorry Harry Kane), meaning Brighton surpass them by £676 in a big win for their scouts. That said, Bayern’s value per player is slightly higher.
Jurgen Klopp also has a good starting point in his new role as ‘head of global football’ for the Red Bull group.
Germany’s RB Leipzig are in a strong 18th place with £535 million, just behind Juventus, while Austria’s Red Bull Salzburg are in 64th with £176 million.
The highest ranked non-European side is Brazilian club Palmeiras, where Real Madrid’s wonderkid Endrick rose through the ranks but only finished in 62nd place with a fee of £177 million.
Aston Villa are 16th with a player value of £600 million, knocking on the door of Inter, AC Milan and Atletico Madrid.
Newcastle (£455m) and West Ham (£444m) are also high in the rankings, sitting 22nd and 24th respectively.
Everton’s well-documented financial collapse hasn’t stopped them from cracking the top 50, sandwiched between Girona and Shakhtar Donetsk on £224 million.
Barcelona make it into the top five despite their £941 million financial problems
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr just sneaks into the top 100, but their value is less than they have recently spent
Leeds United (£189m) have the honor of being one of two second-tier teams ranked in the top 100 squad values worldwide.
The Whites are ranked 58th in the world, making them the team that had their hearts broken in the Championship play-off final, Southampton, although they will likely settle for a division higher and one place lower in this table.
Burnley also finished in 77th place despite a disastrous Premier League season last season, with a team value of £133m.