If you’re wondering why businessmen are flocking to Major League Soccer in the hopes of landing one of the league’s select franchises, the latest Soccerex rankings help ease that concern.
The 2020 edition of Soccerex’s Football Finance Report, intended to show financial power in the soccer world, is very good to the Premier League (no surprise) and MLS (probably surprising to many).
Only the Premier League has more teams in the Top 100 than MLS, with LAFC in 18th place and ahead of names like Leicester City, Inter Milan, and Ajax.
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The rankings are constructed by a combination of factors including value of players, available finances, potential owner investment, tangible assets, and net debt.
Of the five categories measured, Man City is top in player value, Spurs the runaway leaders in tangible assets, Manchester United the leaders in cash in the bank, and PSG the top in potential owner investment.
Paris Saint-Germain has taken to the throne at No. 1, rising above Manchester City and Bayern Munich. Player value certainly matters big here, with Kylian Mbappe and Neymar amongst the most valuable assets in world football.
The Premier League has five of the top ten teams, with Spurs (4), Arsenal (6), Chelsea (7), and Liverpool (8), joining No. 2 Man City.
All 20 Premier League clubs are higher than 96th, with Norwich City bringing up the rear, while Championship sides Fulham (38), Stoke City (63), Barnsley (65), West Bromwich Albion (86), and Derby County (100) make the list.
Germany’s Bundesliga is the only league with two top ten teams: Bayern Munich (3) and Borussia Dortmund (10).
Some surprises included Barcelona in 12th, Manchester United in 16th, and Guanzhou Evergrande of China in 15th.
Back to MLS, the LA Galaxy are 22nd, Seattle Sounders 27th, and Colorado Rapids 36th.
Less than a handful of Liga MX teams make the list: Monterrey, Chivas Guadalajara, and Club America.
The report, however, concludes with a warning:
“At the moment, a battle is raging between clubs with huge state-oriented backing (Qatar and Abu Dhabi) and as these clubs get more powerful, it seems inevitable the gap will widen.”
You can download the full report in exchange for some personal information here.