Manchester United Is World’s Richest Soccer Club At $1.86bn

Manchester United has been valued as the richest club in the world according to Forbes sixth annual Soccer Valuation survey.

The list, which will be featured in the 9 May issue of Forbes, saw Manchester United top the list for the seventh consecutive year.

Not only is the club the most valuable franchise in football but also in all of professional sport.

Owned by the 82-yearold American Malcolm Glazer and his family, the club has over 330 million global supporters. Revenue for the last year increased 16 percent, more than any other club, and thus remains the greatest global brand in team sports.

Chelsea FC

London-based Chelsea FC, which at worth just $658m, came seventh on the list, in actual fact, had the biggest jump in operating profits. While the club is handling $889 million of debt, billionaire Roman Abramavich’s generous donations have seen the club rise through both the league and valuation ranks.

The survey also revealed that the average top 20 club is now worth $640 million, 1.3 percent more than a year ago.

Only three clubs; Manchester City, Olympique Lyonnais, and Atletico de Madrid, lost money.

Here are the top 10 richest clubs according to the Forbes list:

1. Manchester United, $1.86bn
2. Real Madrid, $1.45bn
3. Arsenal, $1.19bn
4. Bayern Munich, $1.1bn
5. Barcelona, $975m
6. AC Milan, $838m
7. Chelsea $658m
8. Juventus $628m
9. Liverpool $276m

10. Inter Milan $441m

David Beckham World’s Highest-Paid Soccer Player

The list also looked into the world’s highest paid soccer players and saw David Beckham top the list despite scoring only nine goals in his first fours years at LA Galaxy. Still, his move to the US has been a financial success seeing him earn $40 million last year – largely through sponsorship deals and product endorsements.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo came in at second place earning $38 million in 2010. Ronaldo has one of the highest commercial advertising values through his huge following of both men and women on his social network channels. His updates reaches 24 million facebook fans and 2.4 millions followers on Twitter.

Here are the top 10 highest earning soccer players according to the Forbes list:

1. David Beckham, LA Galaxy, $40m
2. Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid, $38m
3. Lionel Messi, Barcelona, $32m
4. Ricardo K, Real Madrid, $25m
5. Ronaldinho, Flamengo, $24m
6. Thierry Henry, New York Red Bulls, $21m
7. Wayne Rooney, Manchester United, $20m
8. Frank Lampard, Chelsea, $17m
9. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, AC Milan, $17m

10. 10 Samuel Eto’o, Inter Milan, $15m

See the entire survey in Forbes on 9 May.