United no longer richest club

Real Madrid:
Overtaken Man
United as the world's
richest club

Manchester United have lost the number
one spot in the Forbes list of most
valuable football teams to Real Madrid.

United had held top spot since business
analyst Forbes started compiling the list
in 2004 but have been overtaken by Real.
Barcelona are in third place and Arsenal
fourth ahead of Bayern Munich in fifth
place.
Real Madrid are valued at £2.15billion
(3.3billion US dollars), making the Spanish
club the most valuable sports franchise in
the world, and United at £2.07billion.
Forbes said in a statement: "This is the
first time since Forbes began valuing
soccer teams in 2004 that Manchester
United is not No.1 on the list.
"Real Madrid has been consistently
delivering the highest revenues of any
soccer team in the world, despite an
intense economic meltdown in Spain.
With superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo on
the pitch, and coach Jose Mourinho on
the bench, Real Madrid has thrived under
the leadership of billionaire president
Florentino Perez.
"According to this year's soccer
valuations, the top 20 teams are worth an
average of 968million dollars (£634m), an
increase of 26% over last year.
"Forbes' team values are enterprise
values (equity plus debt) that are based
on multiples of revenue that teams
garner from television, premium seating,
media, licensing, merchandise and
concessions."
David Beckham still tops the list of
highest-earning soccer players with
earnings of £33m, £29m of which came
from endorsements. Real Madrid's
Ronaldo is second with earnings of
£28.8m and Barcelona's Lionel Messi in
third place with a total of £26m last year
from salary and endorsements.