Real Madrid overtook Manchester United this year as the most valuable soccer club in the world.
According to Sportico, Real Madrid leads the way with a valuation of $6.53 billion, followed by Manchester United ($6.09 billion), FC Barcelona ($5.71 billion), Liverpool ($5.59 billion) and Bayern Munich ($5.21 billion).
One year ago, Manchester United led the way at $6.2 billion, but the English Premier League giants experienced a slight dip in value, while Madrid jumped up from its $6.06 billion value last year.
Between this year and last year, the Nos. 3 through 6 teams are the same on the list, as are Nos. 9 and 10. The only other change in the top 10 was Arsenal leapfrogging Paris Saint-Germain to go from eighth to seventh.
The Premier League has the most representation in the top 10 of this year’s list with six teams, followed by two La Liga teams, one in the Bundesliga and one in Ligue 1.
When expanding to the top 20, the MLS has the second-most teams on the list with five, as Los Angeles FC, Inter Miami, LA Galaxy, Atlanta United and New York City FC rank 16th through 20th with a valuation ranging from $1 billion to $1.28 billion.
Real Madrid’s ascent from No. 2 to No. 1 can perhaps be partly attributed to the arrival of Kylian Mbappé.
Considered arguably the best player in the world, the 26-year-old Frenchman signed a five-year deal with Real Madrid last June, and he has scored 36 goals across all competitions for Los Blancos since his arrival.
Still, Real Madrid trails rival Barcelona by five points for the La Liga lead with only four matches left to be played for each team.
Even if Madrid can’t close the gap, it has been far more successful this season than Manchester United, which is a hugely disappointing 15th in the Premier League table.
United is trending toward its worst finish since the 1973-74 season when it came in 21st and was relegated to the second division for one season.
While Manchester United is not in danger of relegation this time around, some quick improvement may be needed in order to avoid falling further down the valuation list in future years.
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