Football Benchmark: now Milan and Inter are worth more than Juventus

The overtaking. This would be the most fitting title for the latest edition of “Football Clubs’ Valuation: The European Elite”, the annual Football Benchmark study on the club’s business assessments. The overtaking because, for the first time in the decade of monitoring, Milan and Inter exceed Juventus. The Rossoneri are worth 1,808 million euros (+26%compared to 2024), the Nerazzurri 1,715 (+20%), the bianconeri 1,651 (-3%). The three big names in the series now are all collected in a scissor between 1.65 and 1.8 billion. Just five years ago, the situation was deeply different. In 2020 Juve was worth, in terms of Enterprise Value, 1.73 billion, more than Inter (983) and Milan (526) put together. It was a whole other world. The lady incorporated the benefits of a winning cycle and, with Ronaldo, had global great expectations. The Milanese, on the other hand, licked the wounds of the sunset of patrons. In recent years things, on the pitch and outside, have changed a lot. Milan and Inter have returned to excel in Italy and attending the noble garden of the Champions League, while Juve has entered an economic and sporting crisis, from which it is painstakingly leaving. “The Juventus club has undoubtedly lost a competitive advantage it had acquired until the beginning of Covid, entering with the engagement of Ronaldo in a spiral of unsustainable costs that only lately are cut,” explains Andrea Sartori, CEO and founder of football benchmark.

the method

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The Enterprise Value is the corporate evaluation, therefore expresses the overall value of a company, the sum of all its assets. Football Benchmark calculates it through the model of the multiples of turnover, correcting the multiplier based on an algorithm that takes into account five parameters: profitability (salary-bar and eBit ratio), popularity (followed on social media), sports potential (rose value), TV rights management and any property stages. For the latest edition of the report, the budgets 2022-23 and 2023-24 were taken as reference. For the first time, a football team exceeded the roof of 6 billion. Is the real Madrid (6,278 million) which, thanks to the new Bernabeu, detaches Manchester City (5.104) and United (5,051). Then Barcelona, ​​Bayern, Liverpool and Arsenal, between 4.5 and 4 billion, then PSG, Tottenham and Chelsea, between 3.8 and 3 billion. You are British, two Spanish, one German, one French. No Italian in the top ten (the last time was in 2022, with Juve), but there are eight among the first 32. Behind the historic large, the Napoli grows that enters the exclusive circle of the companies that are worth at least a billion: 1097 million the Enterprise Value of the Azzurri, a fact that takes into account the last two budgets in profit and a “more amateur” Squad). 2023-24 was the fifth of the Serie A. Then Rome at 665, Atalanta at 573, Lazio at 559 and the Florentine new entry at 507.

trend

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On the occasion of the tenth edition of the study, Football Benchmark deepened interesting historical trends. Between 2016 and 2025 the aggregate of the business values ​​of the Top 32 grew by 146%, from 26.3 to 64.7 billion; In the same period, the Stoxx Europe 50 scholarship rises only by 47%. It is the confirmation of the expansive phase of the ball industry, which has translated into a stratospheric increase in the assets of the European clubs, capable of starting again after Covid. Sartori says: “The introduction of the UEFA regulations and national alloys will increasingly push the clubs to profitability, especially the great teams that participate in the cups and that have already had to adapt to the Squad Cost Ratio (ratio between sports costs and gross revenues, editor’s note) of 80%, which will be 70%in operation. There are no other sectors where you have such imposition of the expenditure and investments. Cash Flow are becoming more predictable. Financial rules, combined with the globalization of football audiences, has created an effect on corporate sales. Still Sartori: “We have witnessed an increase in multiples for the calculation of the Enterprise Value. The aggregate turnover of the 32 clubs increased by 72% in 10 years, but the business value recorded a double increase. This is explained by the economic-financial rebalancing and with the expectations of future profitability. The market has already received it, judging by the evaluations given to the clubs subject to the recess of the sequins. In recent years, from Chelsea to Manchester United “.

delay Italy

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Looking at the ten -year trend of the individual teams, Real has maintained the primacy, while Manchester City and Tottenham are those who made the largest jump in the top 10, climbing respectively from 6th to 2nd place and from 12th to 9th. In percentage terms, among the most grown companies, behind Tottenham (+357%since 2016) and PSG (+346%), there are Inter (+330%) and Milan (+232%). Also noteworthy are +178% of Napoli, +140% of Lazio, +224% of Fiorentina and, only since 2021, +57% of Atalanta who did not even appear until four years ago. In the last decade, Atalanta and Naples are the only Italian teams of the Top 32 to have reported an aggregate result of the positive budget, respectively for 183 and 86 million. In Florentine floating (-14) and Lazio (-20). On the other end, Milan (-857), Juve (-892), Inter (-900) and Roma (-940), although the losses of the big names have gradually decreased, with the Rossoneri even in profit in the two past seasons (but not in the exercise that will close on 30 June). “The Serie A continues to serve a delay from the European elite – observes Sartori -. We pay the stagnation of the championship TV proceeds and the almost total absence of stadiums owned. The interest in Italian football, however, remains high. The entry ticket to get to buy a team with a recognized brand is still relatively low than the premier, and in addition there is greater balance in the race to access the cups. Compared to 10 years ago, but they remain competitive prices if compared with the premier clubs. Looking at the future, Sartori makes a forecast: “In 2026 Inter will become the Italian first for business value, thanks to the revenues of the Champions League and the Club World Cup”.