The world’s most expensive teams are owned by sheikhs

Arab owners of Manchester City have invested 853 million euros in the team. The Qatari bosses of Paris have spent just three million less.

“We want to buy the best and win the Champions League as soon as possible.” This confident statement accompanied the 2008 entry of Arab sheikh Mansour Al-Nahyan into Manchester City. Three years later, the leadership of Paris Saint-Germain, owned by the Qatari state fund, presented the same ambitions. Less than a decade later, the first part of that opening sentence is starting to come true.

For the first time in history, clubs financed by petrodollars from the Persian Gulf have reached the top positions in the ranking of the most expensive teams. According to the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES), the current value of Manchester City’s players is 853 million euros, with Paris Saint-Germain having invested just three million less. “The reason for their spending is simple: in their effort to get the very best, they have to outbid the traditional big clubs,” said Jozef Tokos, sports analyst and football agent for the Economic Daily.

City replaces its rival
Interestingly, Manchester City replaced its city rival Manchester United at the top of the CIES rankings. United paid the third-highest amount for its players – 784 million euros. Changes in the standings were driven by a record summer transfer window, during which clubs from the top five European leagues spent more than three billion euros. “City and Paris Saint-Germain have been paying high transfer fees for a long time. Their aim is to match the very top level, which includes Real Madrid, Bayern, Barcelona, and Manchester United,” said Tokos. While City holds the number one position, it was Paris Saint-Germain that caused the biggest stir on the transfer market – with the arrival of Brazilian Neymar for 222 million euros and the future transfer of Kylian Mbappé for 180 million, which is also counted in the ranking. “Their arrival in Paris created a football frenzy, from which other clubs and the entire French league can benefit,” the analyst noted. In fact, thanks mainly to the signings by Paris, but also by Monaco, Marseille, Lille, and Lyon, the total value of French league teams rose by 78 percent.

Sell-off at Real Madrid
Because the CIES ranking only considers investments in purchased players and does not include homegrown players or free transfers, the biggest drop is also noteworthy. This was recorded by Real Madrid, winners of the last two editions of the elite Champions League. The departures of players such as Pepe, Fabio Coentrao, Alvaro Morata, and Danilo reduced the value of the “White Ballet” squad by as much as 138 million euros. As a result, Real fell from last year’s second place to the current sixth position. “This doesn’t automatically mean the club has been significantly weakened, as Real paid tens of millions for Pepe and Coentrao over ten years ago. They have been replaced in the line-up by cheaper players,” explained Tokos. As with the ranking of the highest-earning clubs, the CIES standings also clearly show the dominance of teams from the world’s richest league, the English Premier League. The elite top ten features six representatives – in addition to both Manchester clubs, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Tottenham.

Abramovich made it happen
Are hundreds of millions of euros paid for football players a guarantee that their owners will one day lift the Champions League trophy? Modern history confirms that they are not – with one exception. That exception is England’s Chelsea, which was bought in 2003 by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. During his first seven years, he paid over half a billion euros for dozens of players. After successes in the Premier League and the FA Cup, the longed-for Champions League triumph finally came. After losing the 2008 final and two semi-final appearances (2007 and 2009), Abramovich and company finally succeeded. Five years ago, Chelsea managed to beat Bayern Munich in the Allianz Arena after a 1-1 draw, winning on penalties. The following year, Chelsea triumphed in the Europa League and firmly secured its place among the most successful football teams on the old continent.