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Spanish clubs have confirmed their continued leadership in global football’s economic arena, after Real Madrid topped the list of Europe’s and the world’s most valuable clubs and Barcelona regained second place in the 2026 Football Benchmark report.
Real Madrid’s economic rise has been largely driven by the Santiago Bernabeu stadium development project, which has become one of the biggest sources of income in modern football in recent years, so the Royals continue to widen the financial gap between their rivals.
Real Madrid are worth €7.725 billion, up 23 percent from last year, surpassing Barcelona by more than €1.8 billion, which in turn jumped into second place with a value of €5.918 billion.
The report attributes Real Madrid’s dominance to a huge increase in commercial and operating income, in addition to the direct impact of the new Bernabeu stadium, which the report describes as a “money-generating machine” thanks to commercial events, concerts and state-of-the-art services.
The huge market value of the team’s stars also helped to strengthen the club’s position, especially the trio of Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior.
On the other hand, Barcelona regained the status of European and world runner-up for the first time since 2022, registering the highest growth rate among the leaders of the Old Continent.
The Catalan club’s economic boom has been fueled by new commercial contracts and significant wage cuts.
The report highlighted the impact of the La Masia academy, especially with the significant increase in the market value of Amin Yamal, who, according to the report, has become the most valuable player in the world.
Manchester City finished third behind Real Madrid and Barcelona despite a slight drop in profitability, while PSG are fourth after improving their finances following the departure of Kylian Mbappe.
Arsenal rose to fifth place, while Bayern Munich maintained their presence in the top six thanks to their continued economic stability.
The seventh to tenth positions also included Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.
Despite Spain’s superiority at the top, the English Premier League continued to impose its numerical dominance on the list of the top 32 European clubs, after nine Premier League clubs were present in the ranking.
But Spain retain the highest average club value, ahead of England thanks to the huge gap created by Real Madrid and Barcelona.
The rankings saw Atlético Madrid remain in Europe’s top 10 after coming in thirteenth place, surpassing two billion euros, while Real Sociedad maintained their presence in the top 32 list for the third consecutive year.
On the other hand, Italian attendances have clearly declined and all Italian clubs have dropped out of the top ten, while Bayern Munich continued to maintain their financial stability in Germany.
The report concluded by stating that the combined value of Europe’s 32 most valuable clubs was €72.6 billion, further evidence of the rapid growth of the modern football industry.
