Rich Club List: Madrid dethrone Man U

For the world’s most valuable football teams, success means turning victories on the pitch into money at the bank. No team has done this as well as Real Madrid, which have usurped Manchester United’s long-held title as the most valuable football team in the world.

This year marks the first time since Forbes began tracking the value of football teams in 2004 that Manchester United have not ranked first. It is not that the Red Devils have faltered.
It is just that Los Merengues are simply bigger, more profitable and growing faster than Manchester United.
Real Madrid, which posted revenue of $650 million during the 2011-12 season, are worth $3.3 billion, more than any team in the world. Los Merengues generated operating income (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and player trading) of $134 million, more than any football team and second only to the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys ($227 million) among all sports teams.