How do Newcastle United's owners stack up against the rest of the Champions League?
Newcastle United’s focus returns to the Champions League on Wednesday when they travel to Qarabag for the first leg of their play-off tie.
This will be the first time the Magpies have ever played a knockout match in European football’s premier competition, coming off the back of a league phase that saw them lose just two games, with this season’s competition’s second-best defensive record so far (7 goals conceded). Of course, this, last season’s EFL Cup win and the 2023/24 Champions League campaign would’ve been nothing more than a pipe dream, were it not for the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s (PIF) takeover of Newcastle United back in October 2021.
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It’s been a transformative period for Newcastle, and the club’s best days are hopefully still to come. But how do their big-spending owners compare to the other rich kids on the European block?
Champions League’s richest owners ranked: How do Newcastle United and PIF compare?
NewcastleUnited (Saudi Public Investment Fund/PIF) - £723.3B
Paris Saint-Germain (Qatar Sports Investments/QSI) - £350b+
Inter Milan (Oaktree Capital Management) - £165b
Bayer Leverkusen (Bayer AG) - £38.8b
RB Leipzig (Mark Mateschitz/Red Bull GmbH) - £27.4b
Manchester City (Sheikh Mansour/City Football Group - £24.5b
Chelsea (Todd Boehly/Clearlake Capital) - £19b
Arsenal (Stan Kroenke/KSE) - £16.1b
Juventus (Agnelli Family/Exor N.V.) - £12.3b
Liverpool (John W. Henry & Tom Werner/FSG) - £5.8b
It’ll probably come as no surprise to see PIF topping the list, even among the richest owners the Champions League has to offer. In fact, PIF are one of just three owners in the competition to break the £100b mark, alongside Paris Saint-Germain and Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), and Inter Milan and Oaktree Capital Management. Even then, second and third combined cannot get close to PIF, though it is telling that the top two are both state-owned investment funds from the Middle East.
Real Madrid - £975m
FC Barcelona - £819m
Bayern Munich - £723m
Paris Saint-Germain - £703m
Liverpool - £702m
Manchester City - £697m
Arsenal - £690m
Manchester United £666m
Tottenham Hotspur - £565m
Chelsea - £491m
Inter Milan £452m
Borussia Dortmund - £446m
Atlético de Madrid - £382m
Aston Villa - £378m
AC Milan - £345m
Juventus - £337m
NewcastleUnited - £335m
VfB Stuttgart - £249m
SL Benfica - £238m
West Ham United - £232m
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