Manchester United overtake Real Madrid as most valuable club in the world

Manchester United have become the most valuable club in the world

Manchester United’s record $130 million a year kit deal with Adidas, announced earlier this week, has seen a 5% growth in the shares of the Red Devils according to Wall Street.

United’s deal with German sportswear manufacturing giants Adidas will take effect from the 2015-16 season, as United’s long-standing association with Nike comes to a close at the conclusion of this season.

In April, Wall Street had valued Real Madrid at $3.44 billion, making them the most expensive club in the world. Barcelona were placed 2nd at $3.22 billion, with United 3rd at $2.81 billion. But the Old Trafford outfit, with an enterprise valuation of $3.6 billion, have currently usurped the La Liga giants.

Their valuation of $3.6 billion, in spite of missing out on Champions League football for the 2014-15 season, is because of the fact they have the richest shirt and kit deals in the world.

Real Madrid and Manchester United are, arguably, the most popular clubs in world football, but Los Blancos are going to find it difficult to catch up with United, as far as valuation is concerned, anytime soon. In Spanish football until now, the onus was on teams to individually sell their media and TV rights.

This created a huge disparity as Real Madrid and Barcelona earned a revenue of $182 million each, whereas Atletico Madrid, at No.2, earned a much lesser amount of $61 million. In order to eliminate such an imbalance, the La Liga authorities want the clubs to negotiate the next television deal collectively, which means that Real Madrid might be losing a lot of potential revenue in the time to come.

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Edited by Staff Editor