Manchester United become football’s first billion-dollar brand

It may be a down period on the field, but in the boardroom Manchester United are going from strength to strength.

The Old Trafford club have soared past Real Madrid and Bayern Munich to become the first football club with a brand value in excess of $1billion, according to Brand Finance, which measures a club's global visibility and 'brand power'. In fact, at $1.206billion, United's brand has, according to today's exchange rate anyway, exceeded the billion-euro mark, and has increased in value by more than 63 per cent on 2014, the result of massive new sponsorship deals with Chevrolet and Adidas worth £47million and £75million a year respectively. Bayern are in second place after a much smaller four per cent increase to $933million, with Real Madrid in third at $873million (up 13 per cent). United's derby rivals City and Premier League champions Chelsea are the other gainers and are in fourth and fifth after both doubling in size to $800million and $795million. Arsenal and Liverpool are sixth and seventh. The Gunners are up nearly 40 per cent to $703million, while Liverpool have enjoyed a 23 per cent rise to $577million despite their on-field travails. With a bumper new TV deal in their back pockets, Premier League teams dominate the top-50 list with 17 entries, with 42nd-ranked Leicester City coming in ahead of Brazil's most valuable brand, Sao Paulo. However, the list also ranks the pure brand rating of each club, and in this area new European champions Barcelona come out on top with an AAA+ status. The top 10: 1. Manchester United $1,206million 2. Bayern Munich $933million 3. Real Madrid $873million 4. Manchester City $800million 5. Chelsea $795million 6. Barcelona $773million 7. Arsenal $703million 8. Liverpool $577million 9. PSG $541million 10. Tottenham $360million