Top of the pile: Manchester United are valued as
the world's most valuable club for the seventh year in a
row
Manchester
United and David Beckham continue to lead the
Forbes lists of the most valuable teams and highest-paid
players.
Arsenal are third behind
Real Madrid but Barcelona have slipped one place to fifth, trailing
behind German champions Bayern Munich in the renowned American
magazine's rankings which take income, profitability and debt
levels into consideration.
England midfielder Beckham
continues to dominate the list of highest-paid players thanks to
recent endorsement deals with Pepsi and Electronic Arts.
His earnings last year were
estimated at 40 million US dollars (£24m), ahead of Cristiano
Ronaldo (£23m) and Lionel Messi (£19m).
United, meanwhile, are valued at
around £1.15billion topping the list for the seventh successive
year with the Gunners worth £731million behind Spanish giants Real
who are rated at around £911m.
Speculation continues to swirl
that the club will be sold in the near future with a Qatari
investment group said to be seriously interested, although the
owning Glazer family insist they will not sell United, despite
recording losses of £104m in the year to June 2010.
Becks appeal: David Beckham is named the highest-paid
player by Forbes magazine
Two other Premier League clubs
are in the top 10, with champions
Chelsea rising from
ninth to seventh place replaced by
Liverpool
who have dropped three slots from
sixth as its value collapsed from £500m to £335m in the wake of the
enforced sale to John W Henry's Boston Red Sox ownership group last
October in a deal worth £290m.
The Reds missed out on the
lucrative Champions League this season which considerably dented
their coffers and Kenny Dalglish's side are unlikely to qualify for
next season's competition.
Fall guys: Liverpool have dropped in the rankings
despite American John W Henry's recent takeover
'The top soccer teams
that can consistently qualify for the big European tournaments are
increasing in value in large part because they reaping the benefits
of higher broadcasting and sponsorship revenue,' said Forbes
executive editor, Mike Ozania.
In a separate study released
Wednesday, Barcelona and Real Madrid were shown to have overtaken
the New York Yankees as the best-paid global sports
teams.
The review of average first-team
pay in 14 of the world's leading sports leagues showed that was
£4.8m at Barcelona and £4.5m at Real Madrid during the 2009-10
season.