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United named as the biggest brand in club football, ahead of Spanish giants

Manchester United’s brand has topped the £400m mark, making them the biggest commercial draw in European football.

MANCHESTER UNITED IS officially the biggest club in Europe according to brand value, climbing above Real Madrid to take top spot in a new survey.

According to Brand Finance PLC, United’s brand valuation of £412million is up 11% on 2010, and is £11m greater than that of Madrid, who boast Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka among their current group of Galacticos.

Barcelona – despite being the best club side in Europe, if not the world – lag behind their La Liga rivals in third place at a valuation of £392m.

“The commercial team at United have developed such a compelling and well-protected brand that global partners are willing to pay premium sums to be affiliated with the champions,” said Brand Finance, which advises companies like brewer SABMiller Plc and bank Standard Chartered Plc.

“In the upcoming IPO, we would expect the brand strength of United to feature prominently in the investment story.”

The rich will get even richer later this year if United’s plan to launch on the Singapore stock exchange comes to fruition, while their neighbours Manchester City have the most improved brand over the last 12 months. They are up to 11th on the list, just behind Liverpool, from 19th last year.

For the full story, check out the Bloomberg website here >