Why is there no limit for dreams in football, unlike other fields and disciplines? Or: why has football become a perpetuum mobile – like mechanism that constantly attracts money? The answer is simple: football grows and thrives because it never sleeps, never daydreams – it is always searching for the next opportunity, not the comfort that would lull many into complacency. Football knows where the strongest economic winds are blowing and moves toward them, keeping in its possession only the ball – as both a prop and a substance that must never be lost or diminished.
Just the other day, the Football Benchmark Football Clubs’ Valuation: ’The European Elite’ report was published, showing that in this realm, limits do not exist. For those unfamiliar with how high things have risen, Real Madrid broke the “sound barrier” of valuation, surpassing six billion euros. In the royal entourage are Manchester City (€5.10B), Manchester United (€5.05B), Barcelona (€4.45B), Bayern Munich (€4.28B), and so on. Due to the influx of American capital and a flood of petrodollars from the Arabian Peninsula, the English Premier League is the most represented in the top ten with six clubs.
From the decade – long research conducted by Football Benchmark, which delivers a list of the 32 biggest football brands, two findings are particularly noteworthy. First, a total of 45 clubs from nine countries have appeared on this ranking at least once in the past ten years. However, the 2025 edition includes clubs from only seven countries, with just four representatives outside of the ’Big Five’ leagues (Benfica, Porto, PSV Eindhoven, Ajax). Second, only eleven clubs have rotated through the top ten during this entire period. The cards have been dealt – no intruders allowed.
The figures above clearly indicate that football has undergone the most glaring financial polarization to date. Every corner of modern stadiums has been transformed into a money – making facility. This evergreen branch of the entertainment industry has become a prestigious investment platform on which global brands have anchored themselves. The clubs on this list have become both athletic and commercial giants, with a 146% increase in total capital value since the first report in 2016 – reaching €64.7 billion to date.
Now let’s come back down to earth – to the pitch. What is left for those outside the circle of high – budget football? The European Club Association (ECA) counts 700 members. Is it just aimless ball – chasing? Not at all! No matter how much football’s vocabulary has evolved with new phraseology, one thing remains certain: the emotions of everyone on the pitch and in the stands don’t depend on budget size, the strength of a sponsor on the jersey, LED ads around the field, or media visibility. That passion cannot be molded or formatted. Football is great because it gives everyone the right to dream.
The divide is visible from Mars – more ruthless and unforgiving than ever before, a game of David and Goliath. And yet, for inspiration, we need only to glance at that emotional archive with its calligraphic inscriptions: Steaua (Seville, 1986) and Red Star (Bari, 1991). In football, no matter the name, tradition, or size of the vault, no one has the right to take away from those on the other side of the field their autonomy over the space of hope – and the time in which the wheel may turn.
