MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Manchester United the most valuable European football club, says KPMG

During the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons, Manchester United won the FA Cup, League Cup and Europa League, but have ended the recent campaign trophy-less.

Manchester United has again been named most valuable European football club, being worth about €3.25bn (£2.9bn) says business services group KPMG. The English club tops KPMG's study of top sides' “enterprise value”, ahead of Real Madrid and Barcelona.

The study, based on the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons, studied profitability, broadcasting rights, popularity, sporting potential and stadium value.

Champions League finalists Liverpool are in eighth place in the rankings. In the analysis of 32 major teams, Premier League clubs fill six of the top 10 places.

Andrea Sartori, KPMG's global head of sports and the report's author, said the overall value of the football industry had grown over the past year.

“Overall growth is driven by different factors, one of these being the increase of operating revenues of the top 32, at 8%,” he said.

“Eye-catching transfer deals and spiralling staff costs have not prevented such clubs from registering a striking upward trend, as the profits before taxes increased by some 17 times in comparison to the previous year.”

Top 10 European clubs by 'enterprise value'

•  Manchester United - €3.255bn
•  Real Madrid - €2.92bn
•  Barcelona - €2.78bn
•  Bayern Munich - €2.55bn
•  Manchester City - €2.16bn
•  Arsenal - €2.10bn
•  Chelsea - €1.76bn
•  Liverpool - €1.58bn
•  Juventus - €1.30bn
•  Tottenham - €1.29bn

Source: KPMG

Sartori added: “One of the reasons for this growth can be found in the significant influence exercised by English clubs, as well as the improved financial health of many mid-size clubs within the ranking, which also reflects compliance with the Uefa financial fair play regulation.”

As well as dominating the top 10, there were a further three English teams - West Ham United, Leicester City and Everton - in the top 20 places.

Meanwhile, SSC Napoli (17th placed) became the second most valuable club in Italy, behind Juventus and ahead of the Milan giants.

This year, 12 clubs were valued in excess of 1bn Euros, two more than in 2017. And six clubs reported an “enterprise value” above 2bn Euros: three from the English Premier League, two from Spain, and one from Germany.