Access to the ranking is difficult
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Compared to June 2025, a factor has changed in the ranking of the 100 most valuable footballers that has a significant impact on the list. In recent years, a market value of 50 million euros was usually enough to belong to this club, but according to the October updates, 55 million euros are required. This ensures that the ranking list this time includes exactly 100 players and not, as has often been the case recently, around 120, all of which were valued at 50 million euros. These 100 professionals are spread across 24 clubs – twelve fewer than before. This also results in numerous changes in the league distribution: at 52, over half of the players are still active in the Premier League (+1), the others are spread across LaLiga (22 players/-2), Ligue 1 (10/+-0), Serie A (8/-6), Bundesliga (7/-7) and Süper Lig (1/+-0). Liga Portugal and Brazilian Série A are no longer represented.
According to the first Marktert updates of the 2025/26 season, the most valuable squads are Real Madrid and Arsenal FC with 1.4 billion and 1.31 billion euros respectively (for statistics). However, with nine, the Royals still do not have the most players in the top 100. But the Gunners, who together with Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain are represented most often – ten professionals each. The most valuable player in the French champions’ squad is Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé, who is the only PSG professional valued at nine figures at 100 million euros. The Parisians are one of six clubs that have more players among the 100 most valuable than the Bundesliga. This also applies to Real, Arsenal, FC Barcelona (8), Manchester City (8) and Liverpool FC (8). Together with FC Chelsea and FC Bayern Munich, these six not only form the global top 8 in terms of squad value, but also make up around two thirds of the top 100 players by market value.
Complete list: The most valuable players / The most valuable squads worldwide
FC Bayern’s Olise moves closer to Musiala in the market value ranking
With Lamine Yamal, who is constantly valued at 200 million euros, Barcelona still has the most highly valued footballer in the world in their squad. Three professionals from the top five, Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappé and Vinicius Junior, are currently playing for arch-rivals Real, with the only change taking place in the case of the Brazilian with a loss of 20 million euros to 150 million euros. Behind them, something has happened in the top five, especially with the Reds and the German record champions. Michael Olise, who joined the 100 million club in June, has now moved up to tenth place alongside new Liverpool player Florian Wirtz, who was downgraded by 10 million to 130 million euros. From the Bundesliga, only Jamal Musiala, who is still out and is valued at 140 million euros, is ranked even higher: in sixth place with Pedri, Bukayo Saka (-10 million euros) and Alexander Isak (+20 million euros).
As in June, 18 professionals are currently valued at at least 100 million euros – most of them, four in number, wear the Royal jersey. Liverpool follows with three. New to the elite squad are Dembélé and Chelsea six Moisés Caicedo. The two Man City professionals Rodri (90 million euros) and Phil Foden (80 million) have meanwhile fallen out, but are still part of the top 100.
Of the seven Bundesliga professionals among the 100 most valuable footballers, six play for FC Bayern (+-0): In addition to Musiala and Olise, these are Harry Kane (75 million euros), Luis Díaz (70 million), Dayot Upamecano (60 million) and Aleksandar Pavlovic (55 million). Bayer Leverkusen, Eintracht Frankfurt and RB Leipzig are no longer represented after their departures in the summer and would not be so at the moment if the threshold was still at 50 million euros. After Karim Adeyemi’s big jump from 15 million to 60 million euros, Borussia Dortmund is still there and is one of eight clubs with only one professional on the list. These also include Juventus Turin, Como 1907, Galatasaray, Brighton & Hove Albion, Crystal Palace, AFC Bournemouth and Aston Villa.
This is how transfer market market values work
The transfer market market values are created taking into account various pricing models as well as a strong involvement of the transfer market community, which deals with the values in detailed discussions. The transfer market market values cannot generally be equated with the transfer fees actually paid.
The goal is not to predict a price, but rather an expected value. When determining the market value, both individual transfer modalities and situational conditions are relevant to a certain extent. Examples of this will be here listed. Transfermarkt does not use an algorithm (for a detailed definition of market value).