A report that was published on Thursday said that Manchester City had surpassed Real Madrid to become the most expensive football club in Europe. This news comes just in time for the conclusion of the Champions League this coming weekend.
The Football Benchmark study compiles a ranking of the 32 most significant teams in Europe based on a set of criteria that includes evaluations of the clubs’ financial accounts, the worth of their squads, and the size of their respective broadcast markets.
City came out on top with a valuation of 4.073 billion euros ($4.39 billion), which puts them in a position to meet Inter Milan in the Champions League final this coming Saturday in Istanbul.
With that number, they surpassed Madrid, the team who won the European Championship the year before, whose worth was slightly behind them at 4.006 billion euros.
For the previous four years in a row, the Spanish giants had finished in first place.
The study stated that City “have climbed up the ranking, gaining five positions compared to the 2022 edition, primarily thanks to the remarkable financial performance recorded in the 2021/22 financial year,” which contributed significantly to City’s rise up the rankings.
After Manchester United’s yearly revenues reached £627 million in 2019, City’s revenue for the previous season was £613 million ($769.5 million), making it the second-highest revenue number in the history of English club football. City were acquired by the Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008, and this figure is the second-highest revenue figure in English club history.
On the other hand, the Premier League brought charges against the club in February, alleging that they had broken 115 of the league’s financial regulations between 2009 and 2018.
It is quite doubtful that this matter will be settled any time soon.
The last spot on the podium belonged to Manchester United, who are currently worth 3.93 billion euros; Liverpool and Bayern Munich followed closely behind them.
Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar and British businessman Jim Ratcliffe are competing with one another in an effort to purchase Manchester United from its existing owners, the Glazer family. The club is now being contested at Old Trafford.
It is believed that United’s present owners have placed a value of £6 billion on the company.