Football Benchmark's Football Clubs’ Valuation: The European Elite 2023

Today marks the release of the eighth edition of Football Benchmark's "Football Clubs' Valuation: The European Elite" , which ranks Europe's 32 most prominent football clubs based on their Enterprise Value (EV) since 2016. Driven by recent transactions that signal investors’ expectations of future industry growth, this year, we present record valuations at both aggregate and individual club level. Additionally, we celebrate a new leader at the top of the rankings for the first time in four years.?

Click here to find out Europe's 32 most prominent football clubs based on their Enterprise Value in 2023:

Key conclusions from our report:

In a notable first, all clubs featured in the top ten now boast an EV above EUR 2 billion, providing indisputable evidence of the industry’s overall growth. To put this in perspective, in our inaugural 2016 edition, only four clubs exceeded the EUR 2 billion threshold.

The order of the clubs included in the top 10 has undergone significant reshuffling: FC Barcelona fell three positions to sixth, Liverpool FC overtook FC Bayern München as the fourth most valuable football club and Arsenal FC replaced Juventus FC at tenth.

The English Premier League is represented in the top 32 by a record number of 11 clubs, one more than last year. Only three clubs from non-Big Five leagues in the top 32: AFC Ajax, SL Benfica and FC Porto.

There are two newcomers in the 2023 edition: Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, making their debut in our report series, and Olympique de Marseille, returning to the top 32 after one year of absence. Meanwhile, Valencia CF and Galatasaray SK have dropped out. For the first time, there are no Turkish clubs among the top 32 most valuable European clubs.

Every club increased their EV compared to last year. For the second consecutive year, AC Milan are the best performers by annual EV change (+83%), followed by Aston Villa FC (+78%) and West Ham United FC (75%).

All clubs reached their record valuation in this edition, with AS Roma being the only exception (EV slightly lower than their 2020 peak result).

Tottenham Hotspur FC boast the highest 7-year percentage growth (+247%), while Liverpool FC recorded the highest growth since 2016 in absolute terms (+EUR 2,627m).

The two UEFA Champions League finalists, Manchester City FC and FC Internazionale Milano, are among the best performers in terms of 7-year growth: second by increase in absolute terms (+EUR 2,453m) and third by percentage increase (+215%), respectively.