About this chart race
Manchester United opened the Forbes ranking as the most valuable club in the world and stayed there for six straight years, growing from $1.45bn in 2007 to $2.24bn in 2012. Real Madrid finished second in every one of those seasons before finally going past them in 2013, and the margin was slim: $3.30bn to $3.165bn.
The top of the list has changed hands five times in nineteen years. Real Madrid held it from 2013 to 2016, Manchester United took it back for 2017 and 2018, Real Madrid returned in 2019, and in 2021 Barcelona reached number one for the only time in the ranking's history — by $10m, $4.76bn against Real Madrid's $4.75bn, the closest gap anywhere in the series. Real Madrid have led every year since and reached $9.5bn in 2026, a full $2bn clear of Barcelona and the widest lead the ranking has ever recorded.
Further down, the map of European football was redrawn. AC Milan (5th in 2007), Juventus (6th), Inter Milan (7th) and Schalke 04 (10th) were all in the first top ten; none of them are in the 2026 one. In their places sit Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur. Manchester City are the steepest climb in the data — 17th in 2007 at $208m, 7th in 2026 at $5.5bn — and six of the ten most valuable clubs in 2026 are English.
The money itself moved faster than any ranking. The ten most valuable clubs were worth $7.7bn combined in 2007 and $60.0bn in 2026, close to eight times more, while the club at number one went from $1.45bn to $9.5bn. Forbes published no full ranking in 2020, so that year is absent from the chart rather than estimated.
This animated ranking shows how club value changed across 43 series between 2007 and 2026. The bars re-order themselves as the years advance, so overtakes are visible as they happen rather than hidden inside a table. Use the list on the left to choose exactly who competes, drag the slider to jump to any year, or open the table view to read the underlying numbers.
As of 2026, Real Madrid leads with 9.5 US$ billions.
Included in this race
Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Atlético Madrid, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Aston Villa, Inter Miami, Los Angeles FC, Newcastle United, West Ham United, LA Galaxy, New York City FC, Atlanta United, Roma, Everton, Leicester City, Fulham, Brighton & Hove Albion, VfB Stuttgart, Seattle Sounders, Austin FC, Crystal Palace, Schalke 04, Napoli, Lyon, Ajax, Hamburger SV, Marseille, Galatasaray, Werder Bremen, Valencia, Celtic, Rangers.
Source
Data from Forbes. Every figure shown comes from this source — nothing is estimated or generated.
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