Arsenal drops to 8th in Forbes rich list

There has been an upheaval in revenue for most rich football clubs after having to cope without match-day revenue for over a year, but the TV and sponsorship money keeps rolling in, so the values of clubs in total have still been increasing year on year.

For instance, Liverpool’s value has increaed by a massive 80% in the last two years, compared to Man City’s 49% uplift. Even Arsenal’s value has risen by a miserly 23% since 2019, but you can imagine that if the Gunners fail to qualify for Europe for the first time in 25 years, they could see Moneybags Paris St Germain creep up on them by the time of the next Forbes valuation. In the last two years the French giants value has risen by a massive 129%.

You would think that values may have fallen through the Covid pandemic, and as we have seen by the experiences of telecomasia.net, perhaps many clubs will suffer from the lack of paying customers as the loss of matchday revenue is certain to play havoc with clubs finances, but sponsorship deals are still on the increase, especially when backed by oil-rich countries.

Right behind PSG in 10th are our noisy rivals Tottenham Hotspurs, whose value has increased 43% so could also start closing in on the Gunners.

Barcelona have knocked Real Madrid off the top for the very first time, but only just. Barca’s value is $4.76B compared to Madrid’s $4.75B, so the difference is minimal to say the least.

Bayern Munich have also edged above Manchester United for third place, but again the gap is minimal with both Liverpool and Man City right behind them, these places could change significantly in two years.

But the Premier League dominates the Top Ten with six teams, despite the first two being from La Liga. The EPL also have Everton in 15th, West Ham in 18th and Leicester in 19th. It is no surprise that those last three named are competing for the Champions League places right now, which could increase their value exponentially as earning and sponsorship revenue grow with success.

On the other hand, Arsenal’s $2.04B valuation may be music to Stan Kroenke’s ears, but unless the club starts to invest in line with our rivals then our earnings will stagnate while some so-called “smaller teams” like Everton and West Ham will get a massive boost in value if they can start to consistently challenge for European places every season.

Looking at these figures it looks like Mikel Arteta has his work cut out just to keep pace with our rivals, never mind challenge for the title. A few years without European football could see us drop further down the rich list year on year.

Here’s the full list below, according to Forbes.

1. Barcelona – $4.76billion (£3.46bn)

2. Real Madrid – $4.75billion (£3.46bn)

3. Bayern Munich – $4.22billion (£3.07bn)

4. Manchester United – $4.2billion (£3.06bn)

5. Liverpool – $4.1billion (£2.98bn)

6. Manchester City – $4billion (£2.91bn)

7. Chelsea – $3.2billion (£2.33bn)

8. Arsenal – $2.8billion (£2.04bn)

9. Paris Saint-Germain – $2.5billion (£1.82bn)

10. Tottenham Hotspur – $2.3billion (£1.67bn)