Most valuable football teams in the world

To start things of with, I thought we'd go for something simple. So I went with the most valuable football teams in the world. In recent years, the main gong of most valuable team has been contested fiercely between Manchester United and Real Madrid, which isn't too surprising considering their dominance in their respective leagues. In 2013, Real Madrid pipped Man Utd to the crown of most valuable team.

Rank	Team	Value ($M)	Revenue ($M)
1	Real Madrid	3,300	650
2	Manchester United	3,165	502
3	Barcelona	2,600	613
4	Arsenal	1,326	368
5	Bayern Munich	1,309	468
6	Milan	945	326
7	Chelsea	901	409
8	Juventus	694	248
9	Manchester City	689	362
10	Liverpool	651	296
11	Tottenham Hotspur	520	226
12	Schalke 04	498	221
13	Borussia Dortmund	436	240
14	Internazionale	401	236
15	Lyon	368	167
16	Corinthians	358	119
17	Napoli	330	188
18	Hamburg	300	154
19	Marseille	285	167
20	Newcastle United	263	146

Well why are Real Madrid the most valuable team in 2013?

The answer doesn't lie because of its recent successes but its ability to achieve success over a substantial amount of time. In the past century, Real Madrid have racked an impressive 32 La Liga titles as well as 9 UEFA Champions League trophies. These successes come with very rewarding prizes, with La Liga earning the club $4m. The Champions League is much more rewarding than La Liga as when a team reaches each stage in the tournament, it receives the following amount: 

• Playoffs: €2,100,000
• Base fee for group stage: €8,600,000
• Group match victory: €1,000,000
• Group match draw: €500,000
• Round of 16: €3,500,000
• Quarter-finals: €3,900,000
• Semi-finals: €4,900,000
• Losing finalist: €6,500,000
• Winning the Final: €10,500,000

Typically the winner of the competition will receive over €30,000,000 which is of course a lot of money in comparison to a team that goes out in the Playoffs or simply does not qualify in the first place. 

However, a large part of the distributed revenue from the UEFA Champions League is linked to the 'market pool', the distribution of which is determined by the value of the television market in each country. So as Real Madrid are a popular team for supporters, this means that more of their games are streamed live to the public which enables them to get a larger proportion of the television money from UEFA. 

Another reason for its placing in the table is down to the outrageous kit deal it has struck with Adidas which generates $42 million a year. The sponsorship deal isn't too bad either, with Emirates airline paying Madrid $39 Million a year for 5 years. 

And lastly, the main reason for its outstanding revenue figures is because of the tickets they sell each game. With a maximum capacity of 85,454, the match tickets will generate a massive revenue for the club which can only be matched notably by very few clubs in European football.