The Forbes and Brand Finance list of the 50 most valuable football brands on the planet came out today, and up at the top there is certainly a European Super League theme. The breakaway endeavor, which launched and dissolved within the span of three days negatively impacted the brand (#ForTheBrand) of the 12 “founding clubs.”
Of the top 10, eight took part in the ESL fiasco, which, according to the study, subtracted €600 million in aggregate from brand values. Chelsea FC, ranked the 8th most valuable club on Earth, saw their value plummet 19% to €769 million.
Forbes/Brand Finance 10 Most Valuable Football Brands
- Real Madrid (€1.27bn)
- Barcelona (€1.26bn)
- Machester United (€1.13bn)
- Manchester City (€1.19bn)
- Bayern Munich (€1.17bn)
- Liverpool (€973m)
- Paris Saint-Germain (€887m)
- Chelsea (€769m)
- Tottenham Hotspur (€723m)
- Arsenal (€675m)
The 6 most valuable Premier League teams (per @Sportico: Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur) are the same 6 English clubs that were going to be part of the European Super League. That’s not a coincidence. https://t.co/VHCxLbeFvt
— Jake Kline (@JakeAKline) May 19, 2021
Don’t worry too much about Chelsea losing nearly 1/5 of their value. They’re owned by Roman Abramovich, a Russian oligarch and Vladimir Putin BFF who’s the 113th richest person in the world.
They’re gonna be alright! Credit Abramovich, along with Manchester City’s ownership group, led by Abu Dhabi royalty Sheik Mansour, they were the last to get on board with this Super League nonsense, and the first to pull out.
England’s big six all cracked the top ten, as one would expect, and thus Great Britain represented 60% of the world’s most valuable clubs.
The ESL was canceled quickly due to the strong backlash against it, but it’s not the only phenomena driving values down. The coronavirus plague has hit all of us hard, even these ultra-wealthy clubs.
The COVID-19 pandemic saw the top 50 clubs’ brand value dip 11.2% this year, and that comes off the heels of a 2.2% drop last year. Not being able to host fans, on account of social distancing restrictions, definitely hurt everybody, but the negative effect is really kicking in this year.
The good news is that supporters are now starting to be let back in to matches, at a limited capacity now, and perhaps at a gradual rate towards eventual normalcy.
As for Chelsea specifically, they will host Aston Villa on Championship Sunday, before taking on Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League final, a match that has been moved from Istanbul to Porto.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.