Craic On

Yesterday we published the top 11 sports brands worldwide according to a panel of experts. It was very suspicious that 8 of the top 11 brands were English.

However, this morning we show you how the german financial experts rate the brands.

The ranking is based on research, conducted by top management consultancy BBDO Consulting, which determines brand value using current and future income flow and expert opinion. The ranking is a guide for companies interested conducting football-related advertising that helps them evaluate the mid/long-term marketing potential of a club.

German View

Investigations into the brand value of football clubs already exists but, until now, the evaluation has been based on either solely quantitative or solely qualitative factors. The brand evaluation model developed by BBDO Consulting (the Brand Equity Evaluation for Accounting method) combines both factors.

This approach goes far beyond depicting only financial performance – it analyses scientific behavioural values such as brand popularity, brand image, brand sympathy and loyalty as well as fiscal data. Income was examined in great depth, right up to the levels of sponsor contracts, merchandising, and revenue from season tickets etc. The behavioural scientific side of the BEVA model stems from a survey of around 400 international experts.

Top 25 ranking of Europe’s most valuable football clubs

Position Football club Brand value in millions
(EUR)

1 Real Madrid CF 1,063
2 FC Barcelona 948
3 Manchester United 922
4 FC Chelsea 828
5 AC Milan 824
6 FC Bayern München 727
7 Inter Milan 715
8 FC Arsenal London 712
9 Juventus Turin 709
10 FC Liverpool 645
11 Olympique Lyon 453
12 AS Rome 441
13 FC Schalke 04 436
14 Ajax Amsterdam 368
15 Glasgow Rangers 332
16 FC Valencia 319
17 Benfica Lissabon 318
18 Celtic Glasgow 315
19 VfB Stuttgart 288
20 Werder Bremen 275
21 FC Porto 255
22 PSV Eindhoven 242
23 FC Sevilla 235
24 Villarreal CF 234
25 OSC Lille 206

Rangers v Celtic

One thing that sticks out is that Rangers brand is show as being more valuable than Celtic’s. Even one of their resigning directors said that, whereas Celtic are an international brand, Rangers brand is mainly confined to Scotland (and mainly the West of Scotland) and parts of Northern Ireland.

Rangers current market capitalisation (their value on the stock market) is currently €35m compared with Celtic’s €70m. According to BBDO Consulting the Rangers brand is worth €332 – way about the current stock market value of the club. So, there may be good value for you there.

I’m surprised that Chelsea are as high as 4th and Liverpool as low as 10th.