Football Clubs: Why Brand Parameters Matter
The evolution of football clubs from community specific sports to an emotional, cultural force integrating millions of people across the world is a long journey, perhaps one of the most important transformations of all times.
The modern-day football club has managed to bring millions under one platform and emerge as a force transcending geographical borders. They have managed to do what most commercial brands dream of achieving, that is, to occupy a permanent portion of emotional space in the consciousness of people, from neighbourhood to faraway lands. Football clubs (or any other sports club) has carved the undying loyalty of a fan (or what other brands would say, customers).
While the commercial brand would struggle to make that space, the club thrives on this loyalty. The focus of club then shifts towards managing this ‘mindspace’ by delivering superior on-field performances and keep the fans engaged. In this process, it also creates an unparalleled platform for the other commercial brands to ride on thereby elevating its commercial valuation.
Thus, knowingly or unknowingly, these football clubs have become brands in themselves. Brand Finance has been quantifying parameters by which clubs can be called brands and have been methodically listing them.
In this blog, we explore the brand growth journey of football clubs and it’s two critical parameters which help evaluate a football club as a brand – Brand Valuation and Brand Strength.
Brand Valuation
“Brand value refers to the present value of earnings specifically related to brand reputation. Organisations own and control these earnings by owning trademark rights”.
Since a significant component of calculating brand valuation is dependent on the revenue, therefore, football clubs with high revenue generating capability have higher brand valuation. So, it’s not surprising that the set of clubs mentioned in the Deloitte Football Money League (compiled list of highest revenue generating club) find their names in the Brand Valuation list put together by Brand Finance.
We analysed the annual brand valuation list (released) of football clubs in the post-pandemic period, from 2021-2025 and found that the clubs occupying top ten ranks remain the same, only their ranking order changes. Some club’s brands have witnessed substantial growth while others have been slower in their value changes. The below given chart traces the CAGR growth of Brand Valuation in the same period.
The rank is same In terms of absolute growth in 2025 over 2021 values with Arsenal showing the highest growth of 78% followed by PSG with 53% and Real Madrid with 51%. Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United complete the bottom two, each displaying a 10% growth.
Brand Strength
The explanation of Brand Strength as per Brand Finance is: “Brand Strength analysis is based on two core pillars: “Brand Perceptions” which relate to the level of brand familiarity and the views stakeholders have of a brand’s offer; and “Customer Behaviours” which are the impacts that those perceptions have on demand, price, and advocacy. Each brand is assigned a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score out of 100. This index is further used in the brand value calculation.”
Essentially, Brand Strength of a football club has a very strong relation with the fan behaviour, their loyalty, their perception and the associated attributes.
In the 2025 list of football clubs with the strongest BSI, Real Madrid comes out top with a score of 94.9 followed by FC Barcelona with 94.2 and Manchester United with 93.1. The bottom three completing the list of top 10 are
– At 8th position is Manchester City with a BSI of 88.2
– Borussia Dortmund is placed in 9th position with a score of 86.2
– Surprisingly, PSG takes the 10th place with a score of 85.4
To put things in context, WeChat has been ranked as the world’s strongest brand with a BSI of 95.2 followed by Nike at 94.7 and Google at 94.3. Although the calculation approach and assumptions differ, but in many ways, it’s a measure of the customer or fans attitude towards the brand.
Post-pandemic list of top ten strongest football club brands has been oscillating between 13 football clubs with seven clubs constantly on the list and remaining three positions being contested by 6 clubs. Some key observations of the list:
– Although, Arsenal did not feature in the top 10 in 2021 but has been a regular since 2022, it has displayed the highest growth of 6.9 basis points.
– The lowest growth over a 5-year period (from 2021-2025) have been recorded by Bayern Munich with 0.4 basis points and PSG with 0.1 basis points.
– The only Premier League to have declined in ranking is Tottenham Hotspur who featured in the list of top 10 in 2021 and 2022 but has been out since and is featured in the 22nd position in 2025.
Amongst the churn in brand strength, one club stands out – Manchester United. In the last few years, the club has not been able to achieve the on-field success expected by fans and football lovers, but that really hasn’t affected its BSI.
Over the same five-year period, the Brand Finance list records a significant BSI growth of the club. In fact, Manchester United has the second highest growth in terms of basis points after Arsenal. It is quite a significant achievement which points to the past efforts made the club in boosting its brand presence and create an undying connection turned loyalty with its fans.
This automatically translates into a continued growth of commercial revenue through sponsorships leading to an increasing brand valuation. In such a low period (on-field performance only), the fans have stood by the club and possibly will continue to stand.
In Conclusion
As mentioned above, the modern football club is a ‘global culture-house’ and have become global brands. What is needed from the clubs now is to nurture this brand and build a deep connection with the fans through a clear strategy and put the plan in action. The results will be reaped in the long run, just like Manchester United, both in terms of search for global sponsorships as well as an expanded fan base.
Images & Graphs: SBI Barcelona
