EVERYONE is talking about brands these days in the football world; clubs are having new crests designed to become corporate logos, summer tours that increase the fixture burden are all about growing the footprint, and some clubs are opening offices to export the brand to all corners of the world. There’s no question who has the most valuable football brand, even if the club concerned are not the domestic champions in their country or at the top of the European game. It’s Real Madrid, of course, whose brand value, according to Brand Finance, is around € 2.4 billion.
Real’s value went up by 25% in a year in which they struggled to live up to their name. They have been through a monumental stadium refurbishment, they had to deal with Barcelona winning the Spanish league again and they tumbled out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage. They also hired one of the most sought-after coaches in Xabi Alonso but sacked him in January 2026 to install Álvaro Arbeloa in the hot seat. From a financial perspective, Real is a club that can generate well over € 1 billion in revenues while also make a profit.
Barcelona, who retained the Spanish title in 2025-26, have a value of € 2 billion, which is 15% up on 2025. Barca have had significant financial challenges in the recent past but like Real, they are working through a major rebuild of their home ground. They are back at the Camp Nou, which now has Spotify as its sponsor. Spain has seven clubs in the top 50, including Atlético Madrid in 11th place, Real Betis (33), Athletic Bilbao (39), Villareal (45) and Real Sociedad (50).
The Premier League may be the dominant league in the Brand Finance Football 50 with 20 clubs, but the highest ranked is third-placed Arsenal, whose value of € 1.536 billion was 28% up on 2025 when they sat in eighth position. The value of the Premier League is € 8.7 billion, which is € 3 billion higher than their nearest competitor, Spain’s La Liga. Many of the top clubs in Europe have very similar values – Arsenal, Bayern, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City and Liverpool are all around € 1.5 billion. Manchester United come in at € 1.4 billion and Chelsea € 1 billion (the only club in the top 10 to show a slight decrease in value). The average increase among this group was 13% year-on-year. Tottenham, who had a dire season in 2025-26, dropped out of the 10 to be replaced by Borussia Dortmund.
Germany’s top brand, predictably, is Bayern Munich, who rose two places in the table to fourth and increased their value by 21% to € 1.515 billion. Big name sponsorship comes naturally to Bayern and their very visible relationship with Deutsche Telekom has just been extended. They have recovered from their 2024 blip when they let the Bundesliga title slip from their grasp, but they currently have one of the most marketable players in Europe in England captain Harry Kane, who has flourished since joining the club. Dortmund, the club with the highest average crowds in Germany (81,365) are Bayern’s nearest rivals on and off the pitch, but the gap is substantial. Meanwhile, German football enjoys excellent support and they have an abundance of big clubs, hence they have nine representatives in the Brand Finance Football 50.
Italian football is not in a good place at the moment after missing out on a third consecutive World Cup and this was reflected in the Football 50. Italian clubs are losing ground with their counterparts in England and Spain, as evidenced by their tepid performance in European competition in 2025-26. Furthermore, revenue growth is slowing and the clubs have all seen their brand strength eroded. In theory, Italy has some of Europe’s biggest names, all of which are part of the rich heritage of the game, but there is clearly something wrong in one of the world’s greatest football nations. Inter, with a brand value of € 585 million and AC Milan (€ 514 million) have both overtaken Juventus after increases of 22% and 28% respectively. Juve saw their brand value drop by 17% to € 419 million.
Once again, the Football 50 underlines the imbalance in French football with just two clubs featured. Paris Saint-Germain’s brand value was up by 10% to € 1.503 billion and is more than 11 times the value of the second highest French club, Olympique Marseille, the only other Ligue 1 name in the 50. PSG have won the Champions League for the past two seasons, achieving the target their Qatari owners have been seeking since they bought the club. PSG have also succeeded in expanding their global presence and have attempted to create a lifestyle brand by opening stores in various hubs around the world. But PSG’s success has not raised French domestic football, it has put the weakness of Ligue 1 very much in the spotlight, including the declining brand strength of most clubs.
Away from the big five leagues, the domestic giants of Portugal and Netherlands are all featured: Sporting (19), Benfica (22), Ajax (23), Porto (25) and PSV Eindhoven (26). Europe provides 48 of the 50 with two Brazilian clubs, Flamengo (32) and Palmeiras (49) a welcome presence from the CONMEBOL confederation. Despite the national team’s tame display in the World Cup, Brazilian football is in its best position for some time, with the top 20 clubs enjoying a 33% increase in earnings in 2025. Brazil continues to dominate the regional competition, the Copa Libertadores and few would wager against another final involving Flamengo and Palmeiras.
Football is still growing at an impressive pace and while it often seems immune to global macroeconomic trends, the World Cup revealed that geopolitics can encroach on the game in a very negative way when personal ambitions clash with common sense. The internal squabbling at FIFA places football in an awkward position at the moment – strong leadership and prudence is needed to ensure the world’s biggest sport retains its integrity.
Photo: main – Omar Ramadan, Tim Bernhard, Nelson Ndongala, Jacob Alschner, Moahad Saqib, Jony Gios. All via Unsplash,
To see the full Brand Finance report, click here