This report provides an analysis of Premier League club brand values, the methodology by which they are measured, the contributory factors that drive them, and the strategies by which clubs can grow brand value independent of on-pitch performance. It concludes with an analysis of Everton Football Club’s brand position and a strategic growth plan.

Brand value in professional football has evolved to the point it is no longer a byproduct of performance but is now a driver of success. The combined value of the world’s top 50 football club brands has climbed to  € 21.9 billion in 2025.

The Premier League is the world’s most valuable sports league in terms of brand value, with its top ten brands totalling € 8.2 billion, more than a third of the total value of the world’s top 50 most valuable clubs. 

Six Premier League teams each hold substantial brand value: Manchester City (€ 1.4B), Liverpool (€ 1.4B), Manchester United (€ 1.2B), Arsenal (€ 1.2B), Chelsea (€ 961M) and Tottenham Hotspur (€ 798M).

For mid-table clubs, however, the gap is enormous. Everton, with a verified brand value of £ 240 million, sits at approximately 17% of Tottenham’s brand value. The strategic opportunity is significant, but it requires a deliberate, commercially disciplined approach to brand investment that goes far beyond on-pitch performance.

Four key themes emerge from this analysis: 

• (1) brand value and on-pitch performance are correlated but not colinear; 
• (2) the stadium is the brand’s most powerful physical expression; 
• (3) content is the most cost-effective brand investment available; and 
• (4) For Everton specifically, the convergence of new ownership, a new stadium, and a regulatory clean slate creates a brand inflection point of the kind that occurs once in a generation.

What is brand value in football?

Brand value is defined by Brand Finance, the ISO 10668-compliant standard-bearer for brand valuation, as the net economic benefit that a brand owner would achieve by licensing the brand in the open market. 

In plain terms: if a club did not own its own name, crest, colours and identity, how much would it pay to license them from a third party? That annual licensing fee, projected forward and discounted to present value, is the brand value.

It is distinct from, but related to, the club’s enterprise value (what the club is worth as a going concern) and its squad market value. Brand value is the specific economic contribution of the name, history, fan loyalty, and commercial identity, stripped of player assets and physical infrastructure.

  Why brand value matters

1. Larger sponsorship deals: sponsors pay for access to the brand’s audience and its perception premium.
2. Higher kit and merchandise royalties: licensees pay rates directly pegged to brand strength scores.
3. Greater broadcast negotiating leverage: global broadcasters pay premiums for recognisable brands.
4. Better transfer leverage: players accept lower wages to join stronger brands, a direct cost saving.
5. Lower cost of capital: investors price risk based on brand durability and revenue predictability.

In the modern football economy, brand value is the foundation on which all other commercial revenues are built.

How brand value Is calculated

Brand Finance’s Royalty Relief approach is the ISO 10668-compliant industry standard. Understanding it is essential for any club seeking to actively manage its brand value, as it identifies precisely which levers drive the final number.

The Everton brand value of £ 240 million stated in the Roundhouse Capital Holdings accounts was calculated using precisely this method, the brand valuation of £ 240.0 million was determined using the relief from royalty method, which assumes a licensing fee that an entity would be willing to pay to use the brand if it did not own it. This is a verified, primary-source figure from the club’s own audited accounts.

Brand Strength Index (BSI)

The BSI is the critical input that drives everything downstream in the valuation model. Brand Finance calculates brand strength using a balanced scorecard assessing marketing investment, stakeholder equity, and business performance. The table below maps all key sub-factors and their impact on final brand value.

Premier League club brand values, complete rankings

The following table presents verified brand values from the Brand Finance Football 50 2025 report (published August 2025) for the top six clubs, supplemented by Brand Finance 2024 data and estimated ranges for remaining Premier League clubs. Sources are stated explicitly.

* Estimated. Figures marked with asterisk are derived from revenue proxy analysis, historical Brand Finance data, and relative BSI trajectory assessment. They are not verified Brand Finance published figures. Brand Finance does not publish individual values for all 20 Premier League clubs.

Individual club brand profiles, strengths, weaknesses and opportunities

Manchester City € 1.40B (BSI: 90.2/100, AAA+)  Global Rank: 3rd

Strengths: Unmatched on-pitch success 2011-2024. Abu Dhabi sovereign backing provides unlimited commercial runway. Cityzens global membership platform. Etihad sponsorship ecosystem. City Football Group multi-club model amplifies brand in new markets. Manchester City’s consistent on-pitch success has driven record commercial and matchday revenues.

Weaknesses: 115-charge cloud cast a long shadow over the brand’s institutional credibility. Perceived as manufactured success, lacks authentic heritage resonance outside Manchester. Declined 11% in 2025 as on-pitch performance faltered markedly. Over-dependent on Guardiola identity.

Opportunities and Threats: Post-charges resolution could trigger significant brand recovery. Guardiola succession is the single largest brand vulnerability. Every season without on-pitch dominance directly compresses the BSI score that had been built on relentless trophy accumulation.

Liverpool € 1.40B (BSI: 92.8/100, AAA+) Global Rank: 4th

Strengths: The UK’s strongest football club brand and second strongest globally. Anfield expansion to 61,000 seats is a brand value amplification tool, not merely a capacity exercise. YNWA emotional brand equity is unmatched in English football. FSG’s commercial discipline and digital-first approach. Strong Asian and Americas following.

Weaknesses: Brand disproportionately associated with 1980s romanticism, younger global fans may not connect emotionally. Post-Klopp transition is a critical brand test. LFC TV content quality inconsistent compared to rivals.

The post-Klopp stabilisation under Arne Slot, if successful, could build a brand that is genuinely independent of any single manager figure, which is the most structurally durable outcome.

Manchester United € 1.20B (BSI: 93.2/100, AAA+) Global Rank: 5th

The starkest brand dilema in world football: Manchester United has a higher BSI score (93.2) than any other Premier League club, yet declining revenues. Manchester United and Bayern Munich have the highest international fan following of any club globally. The brand was built on Ferguson-era mythology and endures despite years of on-pitch under-performance.

Weaknesses: Years of squad under-investment have eroded on-pitch competitiveness. Old Trafford in urgent need of redevelopment. The brand’s emotional authority is built on past glories rather than present performance, a depreciating asset without reinforcement.

Opportunity: A new stadium project would be the single largest brand value uplift event in English football history. Every season without Champions League football directly reduces the royalty rate base.

Arsenal € 1.20B (BSI: 92.8/100, AAA+) Global Rank: 6th

Arsenal’s brand is growing fastest of the Big Six. The Arteta project is delivering a brand-aligned identity: young, technically excellent, and genuinely global. Arsenal’s AAA+ rating and 92.8 BSI score make them the most efficiently managed brand in the Premier League — achieving comparable strength to Liverpool with lower resources.

Weaknesses: Despite the high BSI, brand value remains below City and Liverpool without recent major trophies (now no longer the case with PL success). Content narrative is excessively backward-looking (Invincibles, Bergkamp). International presence weaker than global BSI suggests.

Their first Premier League title in 20+ years will be the most significant brand value event in modern English football a 15-20% uplift is plausible and has a material basis in historical Brand Finance data on title-winning brand movements.

Chelsea € 961M (BSI: 90.1/100, AAA+) Global Rank: 7th

The Club World Cup win in 2025 drove the 7% brand value uplift. The Stamford Bridge redevelopment (should it happen) will add £ 100M+ to brand value when delivered. London premium location and the Boehly/Clearlake commercial team is well-resourced.

Weaknesses: Player acquisition strategy has damaged the brand among core fans and is widely derided in media. Excessive transfer spending undermines brand narrative coherence. PSR compliance remains a risk. Stadium delay creates continued uncertainty for commercial partners.

Tottenham Hotspur € 798M (BSI: 86.4/100, AAA) Global Rank: 8th

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is the most commercially innovative stadium in world sport, NFL, concerts, hospitality, retail all drive non-football revenue year-round. The stadium infrastructure is already transforming Tottenham’s brand from football club to entertainment venue. This infrastructure-first approach is the correct model for any club seeking brand value growth independent of trophies.

Weaknesses: Trophy drought is directly suppressing brand value below potential. The ‘Spursy’ cultural narrative actively damages the brand globally. A BSI of 86.4 would translate to a significantly higher brand value if matched by consistent on-pitch performance. Trophylessness risks ossifying the almost narrative into a permanent brand identity. Relegation would see it plummet.

Growing brand value beyond performance

The most important strategic insight from 20 years of Brand Finance football data is this: on-pitch performance is a catalyst for brand value, but it is not the primary engine of sustained brand value growth. The clubs that have grown brand value most consistently are those that have invested in the commercial, digital, experiential and cultural dimensions of their brand independently of league position.

No single investment generates more brand value per pound spent than a well-designed, multi-purpose stadium. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is the definitive Premier League case study: its NFL partnership, concert capacity, Hotel N17, the H Club, stadium tours, and Gravity indoor entertainment complex generate revenues year-round that are entirely independent of football results.

The lesson from Real Madrid is equally instructive: the Bernabeu’s € 1.8 billion renovation, retractable roof, world-class entertainment complex, museum, contributed directly to a 14% brand value rise in 2025 to € 1.9 billion. Stadium ownership is a key component in determining enterprise value. Clubs that own and optimise their stadium asset have a structural brand advantage over those that do not.

Content Strategy, Netflix/Formula 1 principle

Formula 1 invested heavily in fan engagement via social media, e-sports, and Netflix (Drive to Survive) and saw sponsorship revenues surge by over 30% between 2017 and 2022. This is the most compelling proof of concept for football’s content opportunity. Drive to Survive did not make F1 faster, it reframed the sport’s narrative and made it emotionally accessible to an entirely new audience.

The clubs doing this best in football are Manchester City (City+ app, behind-the-scenes docuseries) and Arsenal (All or Nothing). Every Premier League club has an equivalent story. In a world where 90% of Premier League fans watch on TV and 56% engage digitally with their club regularly, content is a brand value driver of the first order.

Global fan segmentation, NBA blueprint

The NBA’s global fan engagement strategy, particularly in China and social platforms like TikTok, was a major factor in Nike’s long-term sponsorship extension worth over US$ 1 billion. The NBA understood that its greatest commercial opportunity was converting casual international followers into active, spending fans through localised content, in-market events, and player ambassadors who resonated with specific cultural markets.

The clubs doing this best, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United, have dedicated regional offices in key markets, local language social accounts, and market-specific commercial partnerships. Mid-table Premier League clubs have yet to develop this infrastructure, leaving significant commercial revenue on the table.

Women’s Football, the largest untapped brand multiplier

The fastest-growing brand multiplier available to any Premier League club in 2026 is a credibly invested women’s team. Sponsors in categories previously closed to men’s football, healthcare, beauty, financial services, FMCG, are actively seeking WSL partnerships. A club that positions its women’s team as an integral part of a single brand identity (not a CSR footnote) gains access to entirely new commercial categories and demographic groups unavailable through the men’s team alone.

Sponsorship portfolio, beyond the shirt

The most sophisticated commercial operators in football have moved from a model of sell the shirt and sleeve to building a portfolio of brand partnerships that enhance rather than dilute the club’s identity. Manchester City has over 40 official partners, each mapped to a specific audience segment. Real Madrid’s Adidas partnership is a co-creation arrangement that produces exclusive lifestyle product lines, content partnerships, and global retail activations. For lower-value clubs, finding the right sponsor, not the biggest, is the critical next step.

Global best practice, what Premier League clubs can learn

Stadium transformation as brand transformation: The Bernabeu model

Real Madrid invested € 1.8 billion in the Santiago Bernabeu renovation, completed in 2024. The stadium now generates revenues independently of football, concerts, corporate events, luxury hotel facilities, and a rolling roof enabling year-round use. This investment drove a 14% brand value increase to € 1.9 billion in 2025,  a return equivalent to € 266 million in brand value per year on a € 1.8B capital outlay.

The lesson: the stadium is not where football happens. It is the brand’s most powerful physical expression. Its design, capability and commercial programming communicates the club’s ambition to every visitor, sponsor, broadcast viewer and potential commercial partner.

Application for Premier League clubs: any club with a new or recently redeveloped stadium should immediately model the full 52-week event capacity and commercial programming schedule against the Bernabeu benchmark. The brand value return on non-football programming is among the highest of any available investment.

AT&T Stadium: The entertainment hub model

The Dallas Cowboys have a brand value of US$ 9.2 billion, the world’s most valuable sports team brand,  despite never winning a Super Bowl in the AT&T Stadium era. Jerry Jones’s explicit strategy: treat AT&T Stadium as an entertainment destination rather than a football venue. The stadium hosts the Cotton Bowl Classic, concerts, boxing, soccer and college football’s biggest neutral-site games. Non-NFL annual revenue from the stadium complex: US$ 180M+.

The brand lesson: a sports stadium that hosts only sports is a commercially under-utilised asset. A stadium that hosts the widest possible range of premium events becomes a brand anchor for an entire region.

Application: This is the Tottenham model applied at NFL scale. Every Premier League club with a modern stadium should be asking not ‘who plays here?’ but ‘what happens here, every week, all year?’

Building a global brand from a population of 5 million

The All Blacks are among the world’s top 10 most recognised sports brands, despite representing a country with a population smaller than Greater Manchester. Their approach: authenticity at scale. The Haka is not a marketing device, it is a genuine cultural expression commercially available to the world through deliberate brand stewardship. Their ‘better people make better All Blacks’ philosophy is embedded in player recruitment, public behaviour standards, and media performance. Brand values are lived, not expressed.

For English football clubs outside the Big Six, the equivalent lesson is that a compelling, authentic brand story based on genuine community roots, local heritage, and real fan relationships can create brand value that is genuinely independent of league position.

Application: Everton’s history, its contribution to global football developments narrative, combined with the Goodison Park closure story and the regeneration of Bramley-Moore Dock, is the equivalent of the Haka, a genuinely unique cultural expression that no rival can replicate. It needs to be told at scale.

Chase Center: The digital-physical brand structure

When the Warriors opened Chase Center in 2019, they designed it explicitly as a tech-forward brand experience: full 5G throughout, a Chase app-integrated loyalty programme, AR features in premium concourses, and a proprietary streaming service (Warriors+). In the first three years, Chase Center’s non-basketball revenues averaged US$ 215M annually. The Warriors’ brand value grew 40% in the five years following Chase Center’s opening, entirely driven by the commercial ecosystem around the venue.

The lesson: the technology infrastructure of the stadium is as important as its architectural design, because it is the technology layer that drives long-term data capture, personalisation, and fan spending.

Application: Every Premier League club building or renovating a stadium should treat the technology investment as primary, not secondary. The data generated by 52,000 fans, properly captured and segmented, is a long-term commercial asset that compounds in value year on year.

Everton Football Club, detailed brand analysis

Brand Value: £ 240 Million  |  Verified via Relief from Royalty Method  |  Roundhouse Capital Holdings Accounts 2024/25

Source: The Esk Analysis Series (Paul Quinn), April 2026  |  Analysis of Roundhouse Capital Holdings Ltd Accounts

Everton Football Club occupies a unique and acutely paradoxical position in the Premier League brand landscape. It is a club of genuine, verifiable global brand heritage, playing more top flight games than any club globally, a founding member of the Football League, with 9 league titles, 5 FA Cups, a European trophy, and a supporter base of genuine emotional depth. Yet its current brand value of £ 240 million places it significantly below clubs with a fraction of its history and cultural significance.

The explanation for this paradox is not found in the quality of the underlying brand asset, it is found in 50 years of strategic under-investment in brand management, compounded by a decade of ownership instability, financial distress, and regulatory sanction. The Friedkin Group’s acquisition in December 2024 and the opening of the Hill Dickinson Stadium in 2025 represent the most significant brand reset opportunity in the club’s modern history.

Brand value growth, Everton 2026-2031

The following recommendations are ordered by impact potential and actionability. Together, they represent a plausible pathway to doubling Everton’s brand value from £ 240M to £ 480M within five years, without requiring a single additional trophy. The evidence base for each recommendation is drawn from comparable brand transformations in football and other global sports.

  The case for £ 480M brand value by 2031

If Everton executes the recommendations above (or similar), independent of any improvement in league position, the following incremental brand value drivers would be in play: new global shirt sponsor (+£ 20-35M uplift); stadium non-football revenues (+£ 25-40M/year); Asian market commercial partnerships (+£ 8-15M/year); documentary and content strategy (+£ 10-20M); women’s football sponsorship (+£ 6-10M); Americas market development (+£ 10-15M over 5 years).

Each of these drivers would be reflected in higher revenues flowing through the Royalty Relief valuation model, and each would push the BSI score upward in the stakeholder equity and business performance dimensions. A BSI improvement from approximately 68 to approximately 78, achievable in five years with a funded brand programme, combined with revenue growth to £ 280-300M/year, would produce a brand value of £ 450-500M.

Manchester City’s 11% brand value decline in 2025 demonstrates that brand value is volatile and can fall as quickly as it rises. The reverse is equally true: deliberate, well-funded brand investment produces measurable value within 3-5 years. The hill Dickinson Stadium is the catalyst. The Goodison closure is the narrative. The Friedkin Group is the resource. The opportunity is exceptional.

“Brand is no longer a byproduct of performance but is now a defining driver of success. As the sport becomes increasingly competitive both on the pitch and commercially, clubs and leagues must manage their brands strategically to ensure they are not edged out of realising the benefits of a strong and valuable brand.”

— Hugo Hensley, Head of Sports Services, Brand Finance — August 2025

The evidence from 20 years of Brand Finance football data, and from parallel sports brand transformations in the NFL, NBA, Formula 1, and the All Blacks, supports four overriding strategic conclusions for any Premier League club board:

• Brand value and performance are correlated but not colinear. Manchester United maintains a BSI score of 93.2, the highest of any Premier League club, during its worst sustained on-pitch period in 30 years. A club with strong underlying brand equity is resilient to on-pitch adversity in a way that a club with weak brand equity is not.
• The stadium is the brand’s most powerful physical expression. Real Madrid’s Bernabeu, Tottenham’s stadium, and Golden State’s Chase Center all demonstrate that a well-designed, multi-purpose venue generates brand value returns that exceed returns from any alternative commercial investment over a 10-20 year horizon.
• Content is the most cost-effective brand investment available. The Formula 1 Drive to Survive story, 30% sponsorship revenue growth from a streaming series, has no direct equivalent in football yet, but the structural conditions for it to work are identical. Every Premier League club has a compelling story. Almost none is being told at broadcast quality to a global audience.
• For Everton specifically, the convergence of new ownership, a new stadium, a regulatory clean slate and a genuinely exciting first-team product creates a brand inflection point of the kind that occurs once in a generation. The difference between realising that opportunity and squandering it is not luck, it is deliberate, funded, strategically coherent brand investment. The roadmap above is a starting point. The ambition should be to double Everton’s brand value to £ 480M by 2031, without winning a trophy. It is achievable. It requires conviction.