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The Most Valuable Soccer Teams in the World
forbes.com — The Brits thought Yank Malcolm Glazer was crazy when he paid $1.5 billion for Manchester United in 2005. We then valued the club at $1.25 billion. Today, we peg Man U's worth at $1.8 billion, making it the top dog in our latest annual ranking of the world's most valuable soccer teams.
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- parkernicky50, on 05/12/2008, -7/+1nice post
- Totz83, on 05/12/2008, -12/+7What a time to be a United supporter =D
- deadmantalkin, on 05/12/2008, -0/+3and now on to the champions league in a week!
- synyster, on 05/12/2008, -1/+4OGC
- Totz83, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2AIG
- ForbesBingley, on 05/12/2008, -3/+6Manchester United got a lot richer yesterday. They won the Premiership title for the second year in succession yesterday...
- anyone4apint, on 05/12/2008, -1/+7The money won from winning the Premier League is not significant compared to the cash which the Champions League generates. From a purely financial perspective, it makes next to no difference if you finish 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th in the league - so long as you quality for the Champions League then its happy days for your clubs bank balance.
However, as a Villa season ticket holder I can do nothing other than envy the big 4 - the current dynamic of the Premiership and Champions League means that it is almost pointless for the average teams like Spurs, Villa, Newcastle, etc to even bother trying :(- textrant, on 05/12/2008, -1/+6It does, the prize money difference for each place in the premier league is £1million. So the Man Utd got £3million more than liverpool, which is enough to buy a squad player.
- dsmx, on 05/12/2008, -0/+4Man U netted about 14 million from winning the league, if you excuse the unintentionally awful pun.
- anyone4apint, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1The money that is generated by winning the league pales in comparison to the money which is gained through sponsorship deals, advertising, club branding and TV income which is HUGE for a club in the Champions League. Champions League football means that the clubs can create a global brand, global brands mean even more TV money and even more sponsorship and advertising income - this is where the clubs make the bulk of their cash. Obviously winning the leauge and getting a couple of million more than finishing second is nice, but when winning the league brings in around £15m and coming second brings in around £12m and when we consider that Man Utd's revenue last year was £394million we can see how insignificant this extra money is in the grander scheme of things. Obviously its better to win the league to get a few extra million, but when you compare this money to the money which Champions League football generates then you can see how insignificant it is - it makes very little difference financially if you win the league or come 4th, so long as you qualify for the Champions League. This is the exact reson why we have a big 4 and why it is so hard for other teams to catch up.
Bizarly, you get more money for finishing in the bottom three and getting relegated than you do for actually winning the league due to the parachute payments. - Stonekeeper, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2I personally think the league will be tighter next year. I'm a ManU supporter but it's amazed me how other teams have improved. Villa, Spurs, Everton to name a few have definately improved. Nobody is invincible and I'm surprised you think it's not worth trying.
- textrant, on 05/12/2008, -1/+6It does, the prize money difference for each place in the premier league is £1million. So the Man Utd got £3million more than liverpool, which is enough to buy a squad player.
- anyone4apint, on 05/12/2008, -1/+7The money won from winning the Premier League is not significant compared to the cash which the Champions League generates. From a purely financial perspective, it makes next to no difference if you finish 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th in the league - so long as you quality for the Champions League then its happy days for your clubs bank balance.
- bonjourmr, on 05/12/2008, -6/+11Lets hope Chelsea give em a run in the Champion's final!
- kevdotbadger, on 05/12/2008, -0/+7Drawing to Bolton yesterday i seriously doubt it.
- deadmantalkin, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1and terry and drogba are doubtful for the final
- NewMediAroused, on 05/12/2008, -6/+0Sounds like Man U just got ahead in the game...
- L3W1S360, on 05/12/2008, -8/+3The Premiership title is ours! C'mon you reds! lol
- 533n, on 05/12/2008, -1/+9Not surprised that the best team in the most popular sport would be worth a lot
- R4mbini, on 05/20/2008, -1/+0not the most successful though, best at the moment. especially with the free kicks ronaldo has been taking.
- kevdotbadger, on 05/12/2008, -1/+11Crazy foreigners chucking stupid amounts of money into our sport, no wonder it's not about the game anymore.
It's a pity really.- LupeFiasco, on 05/12/2008, -6/+2Right..... because before, professional sports was never about the money.
- kevdotbadger, on 05/12/2008, -0/+5back in the day it was.
- COBHC6661, on 05/19/2008, -0/+0DUDE!!!
YOU ARE SO DUMB IT IS A foreigner SPORT
- LupeFiasco, on 05/12/2008, -6/+2Right..... because before, professional sports was never about the money.
- Viend, on 05/12/2008, -3/+45It's called football, foolish American.
- kevdotbadger, on 05/12/2008, -4/+4Come on now, lets not start a war.
- textrant, on 05/12/2008, -2/+18Why not, they are wrong. They are playing rugby with pads and are pretending it is a man's sport. Pussies.
- mcberg182, on 05/12/2008, -1/+10***** American football. Our rugby team at high school is more popular.
- kevdotbadger, on 05/12/2008, -1/+6I agree on that one. I'm also glad people share my opinion.
- Y2JCrisis, on 05/12/2008, -4/+3Yeah that's why little girls play soccer, and women play soccer, and women do not play football except in the rarest of circumstances, one might be a kicker. Because girls are just as well equipped to kick a ball as men are.
- hakluytbean, on 05/12/2008, -1/+2Girls play rugby btw. Well, women play rugby, well... women in some Commonwealth countries play rugby, but yeah you're probably right, I doubt American women could hack it...
- Y2JCrisis, on 05/13/2008, -2/+1Commonwealth countries like Canada and Australia? Yeah, maybe some of those Canuck women could play football, but then again it's hard to tell the difference between them and Canadian men. Australian women too, considering that it's a penal colony and those prison bitches are rough.
- verynegative, on 05/12/2008, -1/+3The main difference between real football and american football is that for playing the first, you actually need talent.
- textrant, on 05/12/2008, -2/+18Why not, they are wrong. They are playing rugby with pads and are pretending it is a man's sport. Pussies.
- Y2JCrisis, on 05/12/2008, -20/+1We already had a war over this. America won. Soccer it is.
- 533n, on 05/12/2008, -12/+5It's actually Fußball.
- 533n, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2wow getting dugg down for being right
- R4mbini, on 05/20/2008, -0/+0dugg for being original. we invented football in the uk, shouldnt we have the right to give the english name for it?
- kevdotbadger, on 05/12/2008, -4/+4Come on now, lets not start a war.
- ucccft, on 05/12/2008, -20/+2Oh NO! More BBC (Boring British Crap!) No one care for "who is the world's most valuable soccer teams" In Soccer its the MOST SKILLFUL! Dummy. Who did this Brainwashing survey? Some moron from the UK!
What happen to Manchester United the last time they were in the WORLD CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS? They came DEAD LAST!
The KING in SOCCER is the WORLD CUP! The Winners are the KINGS, and as everyone knows the king of kings are 5 times WORLD CHAMPIONS "Brazil". The current king are Italy. The MOST Skillful team in the whole world and that is the only thing in soccer the world cares about. Skill! Skill! not BBC (British BORING crap!).
Ah YES it is with the greatest joy I look forward to the next "European Football Championship" starting this June. We won't have to put up with most "Self" over rated garbage from England, Scotland, Ireland, N. Ireland or Wales, as none and I mean NONE of the "self" over rated British team will not be there. WHY cause they couldn't even qualify.
What a SHAME! All the "self" over rating and brain washing and nothing to show for it.- sionnach, on 05/12/2008, -1/+12You, sir, are an idiot
- pwncake, on 05/12/2008, -3/+1Nothing to show for it? Tell that to shareholders who are laughing their way to banks, and can afford to pay their way 10 times over in suffocating you with wads of cash.
- blumpyX, on 05/12/2008, -0/+0WORDS. LOTS OF THEM
- R4mbini, on 05/20/2008, -0/+0the premiership is the biggest league in the world, this is proved by BOTH of the teams in the final being british, further than that BOTH english (no offense queen of the south ; ) ). dont see any of the brazilian or italian teams in sight also we have won it once so you can jog right on. more than most other countries. ps sionnach, you legend.
- ucccft, on 05/26/2008, -1/+1First: just how many English players are in any of the so called english teams? How many go on How many?
More then Most of the players are NOT English!
The reason you don't see any Brazilians "Moron" cause this is for the Europeans only! Dahhh Not the world.
Again I take great pleasure in repeating that:
I look forward to the next "European Football Championship" starting this June. We won't have to put up with most "Self" over rated garbage from England, Scotland, Ireland, N. Ireland or Wales, as none and I mean NONE of the "self" over rated British team will not be there. WHY cause they couldn't even qualify.
What happen to Manchester United the last time they were in the WORLD CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS? They came DEAD LAST! YES DEAD LAST!!!!!!!
The KING in SOCCER is the WORLD CUP! The Winners are the KINGS, and as everyone knows the king of kings are 5 times WORLD CHAMPIONS "Brazil". The current king are Italy. The MOST Skillful team in the whole world and that is the only thing in soccer the world cares about. Skill! Skill! not BBC (British BORING crap!).
What a SHAME! All the "self" over rating and brain washing and nothing to show for it.
- ucccft, on 05/26/2008, -1/+1First: just how many English players are in any of the so called english teams? How many go on How many?
- jamble, on 05/12/2008, -0/+8Nobody thought Glazier was a fool for buying them, all the fuss was about how he financed the deal. Buying a top club like that makes perfect sense and even at the price he paid he got a bargain.
- kevdotbadger, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1I bet that's what Hicks and Gillet thought...
- Akram, on 05/12/2008, -2/+310 days and we might be even richer....to moscow we go.
- GavinZac, on 05/12/2008, -3/+11united fans: hands up if you're actually from manchester?
support your local club- textrant, on 05/12/2008, -0/+4*hands up* Manchester United are my local club. Suck on it.
- L3W1S360, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Yeah their my local club too. Dunno why so many people added negative Diggs to my last comment =[
- kevdotbadger, on 05/12/2008, -0/+3*claps*
There was a boom of united fan's appearing after the 99 season. I'm a toffee through and through. - somechance, on 05/12/2008, -1/+3I think it's fantastic that our home teams are followed throughout the world by millions. League football is about the only thing the UK is a world superpower at these days.
- kevdotbadger, on 05/12/2008, -0/+5and drinking
- drlha, on 05/12/2008, -1/+5and teenage pregnancy.
- kevdotbadger, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Essex
- Mauly, on 05/12/2008, -1/+5and knife crime.
- kevdotbadger, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Manchester
- drlha, on 05/12/2008, -1/+5and teenage pregnancy.
- DominicUK, on 05/12/2008, -1/+2We're actually much better at rugby. A world cup win and second place in the last eight years? Rugby is the sport to be proud of. Of course, it's also much better than football, which helps.
- kevdotbadger, on 05/12/2008, -0/+5and drinking
- Mauly, on 05/12/2008, -0/+3***** off GZ, stop being boring.... We've 300 milion supporters around the word, so what! If I lived in Tunisia, I'd support Man Utd, We've got history, tragedy and right now the best ***** team in the world...
- kevdotbadger, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Exactly. Bloody glory hunters.
- GavinZac, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1I'm sure you'll be very pleased when the Glaziers realise they'd make a ton more money playing their games out of Shanghai.
I don't know where you're from, but supporting football clubs began because of local rivalries. Thats why there's more passion at a football game, or even a highschool american football game, than an NFL game. Who really bloody cares if a franchise in your nearest metropolis beat a team from a thousand miles away? Nothing could compare, say, to a Milan derby or "Mancs" v "Scousers".* If you can't understand this then I'll let you return to watching Sky Sports.
*The most laughable/depressing this is I regularly have to listen to people born and raised in Cork, Ireland, call themselves Mancs and say how much they hate Scousers, despite never having met any. Its like they grasp the general concept of what they're supposed to be doing, but completely missing the point.
CCFC til I die.
- textrant, on 05/12/2008, -0/+4*hands up* Manchester United are my local club. Suck on it.
- jonesyb, on 05/12/2008, -1/+16"The Brits thought Yank Malcolm Glazer was crazy when he paid $1.5 billion for Manchester United in 2005."
Er.... No we didn't.- kevdotbadger, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2Same here.
- dsmx, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2Quite a lot of fans didn't like him buying the club so much so they started their own club but no-one thought he was crazy buying Man U.
- Partyworm, on 05/12/2008, -1/+7I was surprised to see Chelsea so low down on the list
- kevdotbadger, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2I wasn't. The amount of money they wasted on crappy players.
- altf4me, on 05/14/2008, -0/+1That's because it's the team's value, not the owner's.
- kevdotbadger, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2I wasn't. The amount of money they wasted on crappy players.
- uways, on 05/12/2008, -1/+9Notice that there aren't any Americans in the comments
- synyster, on 05/12/2008, -1/+6cos they don't know anything about football
- nrt25, on 05/12/2008, -1/+2No, its because most of us don't give a damn about your sport.
- SyntraFTW, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2Because 90 ***** percent of this country sucks.
- R4mbini, on 05/20/2008, -0/+0you elect not to cos you suck at it.
- nrt25, on 05/12/2008, -1/+2No, its because most of us don't give a damn about your sport.
- Bruno43, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Sorry mate, I am an American and I follow football, I just don't do digg comments very often. I am also more of an AC Milan fan followed up by Man U.
- synyster, on 05/12/2008, -1/+6cos they don't know anything about football
- alexcroox, on 05/12/2008, -6/+3Lets face it, all about Portsmouth!! BLUE ARMY! (sorry for this irrelevant comment, had to show some support!)
- kevdotbadger, on 05/12/2008, -0/+3I'm digging you down for the disrespect you shown yesterday to Fulham.
- moonmonkey, on 05/12/2008, -6/+1Goddamn limey sons of bitches.
- blumpyX, on 05/12/2008, -1/+3this article may not tell some of you anything new, so how about this little fact:
Darren Bent is one of the top 20 paid footballers in the world
Darren. Bent. :o- MiNGLED, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Work 1 day a month, usually for 15mins at the end, score 8 goals a season and still get paid huge sums of cash. Nice work if you can get it.
- Viriatus2, on 05/12/2008, -2/+2dugg because of the picture of Cristiano Ronaldo
- verynegative, on 05/12/2008, -1/+1Slightly off topic, but have you seen this tv spot? its awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxU0zoBjmrk&feature ...- 500fthigh, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1i had seen that commercial, it is a great perspective.
- 500fthigh, on 05/12/2008, -1/+2Allez OM, Allez OM
- JezusGhoti, on 05/12/2008, -2/+3This list is a lot less impressive when you consider that the average value of an NFL franchise (there are 32 of them for those of you who aren't fans) is just under $1 billion. The Dallas Cowboys are estimated to be worth just as much as Man U and the least valuable NFL team is still worth around $800 million. Only the top 10 soccer teams in the entire world can compete with the entire NFL.
- MrARPA, on 05/13/2008, -1/+1Surely a franchise system keeps the value of the NFL teams artificially high. There is no franchise system in European football, there are lots of teams and anybody can start one.
- SyntraFTW, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2Columbus Crew, top of the MLS, fools. (not relevant, just thought I'd point that out) (***** you, chicago)
- Bruno43, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Go Crew!
- EnderMB, on 05/12/2008, -1/+1Malcolm Glazer ***** Man Utd over pretty badly. Whilst the club earns a lot of money as a worldwide brand Malcolm Glazer poured all his debt from buying the club back into it. One only has to look at Leeds United to see how far a great club can fall and with money being the ultimate controlling factor in the Premier League the debt could lead them to crash.
That being said, Sir Alex will lead them to the Champions League and they'll win, and in the next few seasons they'll stock up on youth and try and work out any future financial issues. Once Sir Alex retires Roy Keane will take the reigns and the club will peak once again.
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