Sporting Kansas City makes list of world’s most valuable soccer teams
Major League Soccer is celebrating its 30th season this year, so the league is still young compared to others around the world.
In 1996, the league started with 10 teams and a salary cap of $1.13 million, per ESPN. It now has 30 franchises and a salary cap of just under $6 million.
And the value of the MLS clubs continues to grow. Sportico recently released its list of the top 50 valuable soccer teams in the world, and it’s little surprise that the top 15 all reside in Europe.
There are 19 MLS franchises in the top 50, followed by the English Premier League with 14.
Sporting Kansas City ranks 44th, one spot ahead of the New York Red Bulls, with a valuation of $650 million. Sportico found Sporting KC had $71 million in revenues.
Sporting Kansas City was ranked ahead of Eintracht Frankfurt of the Bundesliga, and English sides AFC Bournemouth, Brentford and Crystal Palace.
The value of the top European sides dwarf those of Sporting Kansas City and other MLS teams. Here is the top five from Sportico:
1. Real Madrid $6.53 billion
2. Manchester United $6.09 billion
3. Barcelona $5.71 billion
4. Liverpool $5.59 billion
5. Bayern Munich $5.21 billion
The most valuable MLS team is Los Angeles FC ($1.28 billion), which ranked 16th on Sportico’s list. MLS teams hold the next four spots in the top 20.
17. Inter Miami $1.19 billion
18. LA Galaxy $1.11 billion
19. Atlanta United $1.08 billion
20. New York City FC $1 billion
Sportico shared its methodology for calculating the list. It relied “on publicly available financial statements, Deloitte’s Football Money League publication, figures compiled by soccer finance expert Kieron O’Connor and our own estimates in cases where detailed information was not available.”
This story was originally published May 8, 2025 at 9:29 AM.
