How much is a football club worth? Valuation methods, intangibles and Franco-Swiss cases

Introduction: why a football club's value fascinates so much

How much is a football club really worth? The question, long confined to the sports pages, has become a corporate finance topic in its own right. In the middle of the World Cup, while the spotlight is on the game, investors are looking at the balance sheets. The transfer market reached an all-time record in 2025, with USD 13.08 billion spent on fees internationally, as documented by FIFA in its Global Transfer Report. Behind the emotion of the pitch, a club is first and foremost an economic asset whose value is built, measured and negotiated according to the same principles as any company, provided one understands what makes it so particular.

A football club is a company whose value is essentially intangible: a squad of players, a brand, broadcasting rights and a fan base. The sector's benchmark method, popularised by the KPMG Football Benchmark, combines revenue, profitability, popularity and sporting potential to estimate an enterprise value.

"An intangible asset is an identifiable non-monetary asset without physical substance.", IFRS, IAS 38 standard, intangible assets.

In 2026, three forces converge to make club valuation a front-line topic. First, the financialisation of football is accelerating: investment funds, North American owners and multi-club ownership are turning clubs into asset classes. Second, the transfer market is reaching new heights, which mechanically revalues a club's main asset, its squad. Third, the tightening of the financial framework of UEFA, through its club licensing and financial sustainability regulations, imposes a discipline that brings club management closer to that of an ordinary company. This article defines a club's value, explains how it is built around TV rights, sponsorship, ticketing and player trading, details the valuation methods, addresses the accounting question of the player as an asset, illustrates the mechanics on two Franco-Swiss worked cases, then sets out five mistakes to avoid, a ten-question FAQ and a summary.

Have your club or sporting asset valued with the rigour of an independent valuer

Before going into detail, keep the essentials in mind: a club's value does not lie in its league position, but in the quality and recurrence of its revenue, in the market value of its squad and in the strength of its brand, all corrected for high sporting volatility.

If you are preparing the acquisition, the sale or the fundraising of a club, an academy or any sporting asset, book a 30-minute conversation with Hectelion to turn these intangible assets into a value that is defensible before a buyer or a lender.

Our work relies on a multi-method methodology aligned with IVSC standards and on a Franco-Swiss reading of risk.

Definition: what is the valuation of a football club?

Valuing a football club consists in estimating the economic value of the entity that operates the sporting activity, that is the company behind the club, including its tangible assets, its intangible assets and its debts. As for any company, one distinguishes enterprise value, which measures the value of the economic tool independently of its financing, from equity value, which deducts net debt.

The specificity of a club lies in the nature of its assets. The bulk of its value does not appear, or only partly, on its balance sheet: the professional squad, the brand, the fan base and the broadcasting contracts are intangible assets whose market value often far exceeds their book value. Valuing a club therefore means above all knowing how to read and quantify this intangible side, drawing on tried-and-tested methods of intangible asset valuation.

A framing point is needed. The vast majority of clubs, particularly in France and Switzerland, are unlisted companies. Hectelion is not FINMA-authorised and does not act on stock-market transactions or listed companies: the rare listed clubs are used here only as market comparables.

Origins: from members' association to globalised financial asset

Professional football was born of an associative model, where the club was first a sporting and social institution, with no real wealth-management logic. The shift occurred in the 1990s, under two converging ruptures. On one hand, the explosion of television broadcasting rights turned the sporting spectacle into a mass media product, multiplying revenue. On the other hand, the 1995 Bosman ruling liberalised the market for out-of-contract players, which made the player's contract a tradable asset and gave birth to a genuine transfer market.

From the 2010s, a third wave completed this mutation: financialisation. State owners, then private-equity funds and North American investors, approach clubs as assets to be valued, sometimes grouped into multi-club networks. The club ceases to be a mere institution and becomes a holding from which value creation is expected, measured by specialised firms such as the Deloitte Football Money League. It is this financialisation that today makes the independent valuation of a club as necessary as for any other company.

Why value a football club rigorously

Valuing a club answers five converging motivations.

• First, for an acquisition or a sale: a buyer, a fund or an outgoing shareholder need an independent reference price, distinct from the club's emotional or media value.
• Second, for a fundraising or a financing: lenders and investors condition their contributions on a credible valuation of the assets, foremost the squad and the brand.
• Third, for compliance with the UEFA framework: the financial sustainability regulations require monitoring of accounts and ratios that presupposes a reliable measure of the value of assets and commitments.
• Fourth, for a dispute or a transaction between shareholders: entry or exit of an investor, shareholder divorce, succession, all situations that require a reasoned arbitration value.
• Fifth, for internal management: tracking the value of the squad, arbitrating between training and purchases, or deciding on a stadium investment requires reasoning in value, not only in sporting result.

How a football club's value is built

The valuation of a club follows a six-step methodology, combining the universal approaches of valuation and the specificities of the sector.

Step 1: analyse the four revenue pillars. A club's revenue breaks down into four sources, whose balance determines the soundness of the model. Broadcasting rights, or TV rights, are often the first item for the big clubs and depend on the national market and the competitions played. Commercial revenue, sponsorship and merchandising, reflects the strength of the brand. Ticketing and hospitality, or matchday, depend on the stadium and the attendance. Finally, player trading, that is the capital gains on contract disposals, is a pillar in its own right, sometimes dominant for training clubs.

Step 2: normalise profitability. Football is a low-margin sector, where the wage bill frequently absorbs 60% to 80% of revenue. The valuer restates exceptional items, smooths volatile transfer gains and rebuilds a normalised EBITDA representative of recurring performance, excluding sporting peaks or troughs.

Step 3: apply the revenue multiples method. For want of stable profits, the sector is valued above all at a multiple of revenue (EV/Revenue), the EBITDA multiple (EV/EBITDA) serving only as a cross-check when the club generates a positive operating surplus. Observed transactions place enterprise value between one and three times annual revenue depending on size, market and potential, in a logic close to our analysis of sector valuation multiples.

Step 4: cross-check with a discounted cash flow. For clubs with visible contractual revenue, multi-year TV rights and sponsorship contracts, discounting future cash flows at the weighted average cost of capital provides a second perspective, provided sporting volatility is built into the scenarios.

Step 5: value the intangible assets separately. A sum-of-the-parts approach separately estimates the market value of the squad, that of the brand and that of the real-estate assets, then deducts net debt. This method, aligned with our practice of brand valuation, is often the most telling for a club, because it reveals where the value really sits.

Step 6: converge and arbitrate. The valuer compares the results of the different methods, explains the gaps and retains a reasoned value range, consistent with a multi-method approach aligned with IVSC. The final value is never a single figure, but a defensible range.

Football club valuation methods

Beyond the process, the valuer has a toolbox of complementary methods that it cross-checks to make the value robust. Five approaches dominate in football, and none is sufficient on its own.

The market multiples: EV/Revenue and EV/EBITDA

The sector relies above all on the revenue multiple (EV/Revenue), precisely because a club's EBITDA is structurally low, often negative and highly volatile: enterprise value generally comes out between one and three times annual revenue, calibrated on the national market, the diversification of revenue and the sporting potential. The EBITDA multiple (EV/EBITDA), the universal reference for profitable companies, is used only as a cross-check when the club generates a positive, normalised operating surplus. This is a sector specificity: where oil and gas are valued per barrel produced a day or per proven reserve, football has no single standardised operating multiple, and it is the market value of the squad that plays this anchoring role, like a reference asset, complemented by composite models such as the KPMG Football Benchmark.

The discounted cash flow (DCF)

For clubs whose contractual revenue is visible, multi-year TV rights and firm sponsorship contracts, discounting future cash flows at the weighted average cost of capital provides a complementary perspective. The difficulty specific to football is incorporating sporting volatility: the valuer builds several performance scenarios, weighted by their probability, rather than a single trajectory, on pain of capitalising a hazard.

The sum of the parts

This asset-based approach values each of the club's assets separately, the market value of the squad, the brand, the stadium and the training centre, then deducts net debt. It is often the most telling for a club, because it reveals where the value really sits and highlights the gap between the market value and the book value of the intangibles.

Comparable transactions

Analysing recent transactions on comparable clubs provides market multiples and price reference points. Its limitation lies in the scarcity, the confidentiality and the highly idiosyncratic nature of club transactions: each deal mixes sporting, wealth-management and sometimes emotional motivations that must be neutralised before any comparison.

The multi-criteria enterprise value model

Popularised by the KPMG Football Benchmark, this composite approach estimates enterprise value by combining several criteria, profitability, popularity measured by audience and fan base, sporting potential, stadium ownership and broadcasting rights. It aggregates these dimensions into a single value, useful as a consistency check on the other methods, provided one understands its weightings.

Is the player an asset? The accounting treatment of player contracts

This is the most misunderstood question in the sector, and the most decisive for value. A player is obviously not the property of a club, but the contract that binds the player to the club, called the player registration, is itself an asset. In accounting terms, this right is treated as an intangible asset within the meaning of IAS 38, with major consequences for reading the balance sheet.

First, only an acquired player appears as an asset. When a club buys a player, the transfer fee, increased by directly attributable costs such as agent commissions, is recognised as an asset and then amortised on a straight-line basis over the term of the contract. A player bought for 20 M EUR on a five-year contract thus generates an amortisation charge of 4 M EUR per year, and his net book value mechanically declines towards zero at expiry, regardless of his real market value.

Second, and this is the essential blind spot, a player trained at the club does not appear on the balance sheet. IAS 38 indeed prohibits recognising as an asset an internally generated intangible when its cost cannot be measured reliably. A training club can therefore hold a squad of considerable market value while presenting a very low, even nil, player asset for its best talents from the academy. The real value is there, but it is invisible to the financial statements.

Third, the cost model prevails: a bought player is never revalued upward on the balance sheet, even if his rating explodes. Conversely, a serious injury or a loss of form can trigger an impairment. When a player is sold, the difference between the sale price and the residual net book value constitutes a capital gain on disposal, often the main earnings lever for training clubs. For the valuer, the conclusion is clear: the book value of the squad is a misleading floor, and only a market-value valuation, drawing on references such as the CIES Football Observatory, restores the true value of this asset.

The value drivers and discounts of a club

All else equal, two clubs with identical revenue can be valued very differently depending on a series of structural levers that the valuer must weigh.

On the value-premium side, a high-performing training centre is a major asset: it feeds the squad at low cost and generates recurring capital gains on disposal, a genuine earnings engine for training clubs. A large, loyal fan base, a strong brand and an international presence support commercial revenue and resilience. Stable governance and a solid ownership reduce the risk premium required by a buyer.

On the discount side, a high wage-bill-to-revenue ratio, frequent in football, compresses profitability and weakens cash. Heavy debt or deferred transfer commitments weigh on equity value. Excessive dependence on TV rights, especially when they are concentrated on a single broadcaster and renegotiated at short notice, increases risk. Finally, belonging to a multi-club ownership network can create recruitment and cost synergies, but also conflicts of interest and regulatory constraints, to be assessed case by case.

The stadium: a real-estate asset at the heart of value

Ownership of the stadium is one of the most discriminating factors of a club's value. A club that owns its ground holds a real-estate asset in its own right, which generates recurring, diversified revenue, ticketing, hospitality, stadium naming rights, seminars and concerts, and which constitutes valuable collateral for accessing financing. This asset is valued using classic real-estate methods, discounting of economic rents and comparables, and can represent a substantial share of the sum of the parts.

Conversely, a club that rents its stadium, often from a local authority, captures a much smaller fraction of the value generated on match days and presents a reduced asset base. The same sporting performance therefore does not produce the same value depending on whether the club owns or rents its tool. For the valuer, distinguishing the value of the sporting operation from that of the real-estate asset is essential, particularly when the two are housed in separate legal entities, a frequent configuration that calls for a rigorous separation of real-estate and operating assets.

The financial control framework: UEFA, DNCG and Swiss regulation

A club does not operate in a regulatory vacuum, and its financial control framework directly influences its value. At European level, UEFA's club licensing and financial sustainability regulations frame the solvency of clubs and progressively cap spending on wages, transfers and agent commissions relative to revenue. A compliant club calmly accesses European competitions and their receipts, whereas a club in breach exposes itself to sanctions, even exclusion, which translate into a risk discount.

At national level, France stands out with one of the strictest controls in the world, exercised by the DNCG, the body of the Ligue de Football Professionnel responsible for auditing clubs' accounts. The DNCG can impose a wage-bill cap, a transfer ban, even an administrative relegation, all measures that heavily affect the value of a French club. In Switzerland, the Swiss Football League likewise conditions the playing licence on compliance with financial criteria. For the valuer, a club under regulatory constraint carries a discount, whereas a compliant, transparent and well-managed club inspires confidence and finances itself better, which supports its value.

When valuing a football club becomes necessary

Valuation becomes necessary in several trigger situations. In an acquisition or a sale, full or partial, the independent valuation sets the reference price and objectifies the negotiation. In a fundraising or the entry of an investor into the capital, it determines the issue price and the sharing of value.

Valuation is also decisive in a dispute between shareholders, a divorce or a succession involving club shares, where a reasoned arbitration value is indispensable. It also comes into play in an asset-backed bank financing, or to meet the financial-monitoring requirements of UEFA and the national leagues. Finally, valuing the squad and the brand informs management decisions, whether arbitrating between training and recruitment, or assessing a stadium project. Conversely, for a small purely amateur club with no valuable intangible asset, the exercise adds little.

Who to call on to value a football club

Valuing a club requires a triple competence rarely found together. First, a command of business and intangible-asset valuation methods, to translate a squad, a brand and broadcasting rights into a defensible value. Second, a fine understanding of football's economy, its four revenue pillars, its sporting volatility and its UEFA regulatory framework. Third, total independence from the parties, the condition for the credibility of an arbitration value before an investor, a judge or a licensing authority.

Hectelion combines this Franco-Swiss double expertise and conducts its valuations in full economic independence from traditional financial intermediaries. We act on transactions of 2 to 500 MCHF, drawing on an IVSC-aligned valuation methodology, a financial due diligence that knows how to read a club's very particular accounts, and, for disposal or acquisition transactions, an M&A advisory that integrates the specificities of the sports sector.

Advantages: objectivity, credibility and revealing the hidden value

The first advantage of a rigorous valuation is objectivity. In a sector where passion, sporting results and media coverage blur the markers, substituting a reasoned value for an emotional appreciation brings the discussion back onto financial ground. The debate no longer bears on the club's popularity, but on the recurrence of its revenue and the value of its assets.

The second advantage is credibility before third parties: a buyer, a lender, a judge or the licensing authority give more weight to a value established by an independent valuer, following a documented multi-method approach. The third advantage, specific to football, is revealing the hidden value: by quantifying at market value a squad and a brand that accounting undervalues, the valuer brings to light a wealth that the balance sheet conceals, which can transform a negotiation.

Limits: sporting volatility, dependence and illiquidity

The first limit relates to sporting volatility. A relegation, a missed European qualification or an early elimination can upend revenue from one season to the next, which makes any valuation based on a single year misleading. The valuer must reason over a cycle and in probability, never by extrapolating a peak.

The second limit is dependence on partly uncontrolled factors: the TV-rights calendar, the performance of a handful of key players, injuries, regulatory decisions by UEFA or the leagues. The third limit is the illiquidity and scarcity of comparables: club transactions are few, often confidential and highly idiosyncratic, which weakens market multiples. Finally, the emotional attachment of owners and supporters introduces an emotional premium that has no place in an economic value. The valuation grid therefore adapts to the club, the country and the sporting level, and cannot be applied mechanically.

The 5 mistakes to avoid

Mistake 1: Confusing the book value and the market value of the squad

The most widespread mistake consists in reading a club's value in the net book value of its players. Yet that value reflects only the amortised acquisition cost, and completely ignores the players trained at the club, absent from the balance sheet. A club may show a player asset of 40 M EUR for a squad worth 100 M EUR on the market. Reasoning on accounting means undervaluing the club's main asset.

Mistake 2: Extrapolating an exceptional season

Capitalising the revenue of a Champions League season or a cup run as if it were recurring leads to gross overvaluation. Receipts linked to the sporting run are by nature volatile. The valuer normalises them over a cycle and weights them by a probability of qualification, instead of projecting them identically year after year.

Mistake 3: Neglecting the structure of TV rights

Not all TV rights are equal. A club dependent for 60% on a national broadcasting contract renegotiated every three years carries a very different risk from a club with diversified commercial revenue. Ignoring the concentration, the maturity and the soundness of broadcasting contracts means misjudging the real quality of revenue, and therefore the risk. The structure and durability of broadcasting rights must be analysed contract by contract, because they condition the visibility of future cash flows.

Mistake 4: Counting the value of the players twice

A frequent technical mistake consists in valuing the squad at its market value in a sum of the parts, while simultaneously integrating future trading gains into the discounted cash flows. One then counts the same asset twice. Each source of value must be taken into account only once, either in the asset value of the squad, or in the cash flows, never in both.

Mistake 5: Ignoring the Franco-Swiss dimension of the model

The economic model of a French club and that of a Swiss club differ profoundly. Ligue 1 relies more on national TV rights and a spectacle logic, whereas the Swiss Super League, in a smaller audiovisual market, depends far more on training, player trading and European qualifications. Mechanically transposing the markers from one country to the other distorts the valuation.

Case 1: valuation of a mid-table Ligue 1 club

A mid-table Ligue 1 club generates normalised recurring revenue of 80 M EUR, split between 14 M EUR of broadcasting rights, 26 M EUR of commercial revenue, 14 M EUR of ticketing and hospitality, and 26 M EUR of normalised trading gains. This structure reflects the collapse of television rights, whose receipts now amount to only around 335 M EUR for the whole of Ligue 1 in 2025-2026, against more than 700 M EUR two years earlier, which has made player trading a revenue pillar in its own right and brings the French model closer to the Swiss model based on training and resale. Its wage bill, of the order of 52 M EUR, absorbs nearly 65% of its revenue, for a normalised EBITDA of about 6 M EUR. The club is unlisted and held by a majority shareholder studying the entry of a minority investor.

The revenue multiples method, with a multiple of 1.6 times calibrated on transactions of comparable clubs, leads to an enterprise value of 1.6 × 80 = 128 M EUR, rounded to about 125 M EUR. The sum of the parts confirms this order of magnitude: the market value of the squad comes out at about 100 M EUR, the brand at 15 M EUR and the other assets at 15 M EUR, that is 130 M EUR before net debt. Deducting net debt of about 30 M EUR, equity value settles around 95 M EUR. The decisive point lies in the squad: its market value of 100 M EUR represents nearly 78% of enterprise value, whereas its net book value reaches only 40 M EUR. These 60 M EUR of value invisible on the balance sheet, within the meaning of IAS 38, are precisely what an independent valuation reveals and what an accounting reading ignores.

Case 2: valuation of a Swiss Super League training club

A Swiss Super League club, recognised for its training centre, generates, in a season without a major European campaign, normalised recurring revenue of 32 MCHF, split between 1.5 MCHF of domestic TV rights, 13.5 MCHF of commercial revenue, 7 MCHF of ticketing and 10 MCHF of player trading. The weakness of TV rights is structural here: the Swiss Football League's centralised commercialisation represents only about 17 MCHF of TV and marketing rights for the twelve Super League clubs, that is of the order of 1.5 MCHF per club, which a structurally surplus training-and-resale model offsets. Normalised EBITDA comes out at about 3 MCHF.

With a revenue multiple of 1.3 times, lower than for a French club owing to a narrower market, enterprise value settles at 1.3 × 32 = 41.6 MCHF, that is about 42 MCHF. The squad's market value, of the order of 30 MCHF, and a positive net cash position bring equity value into a 35 to 40 MCHF range, which places this club at the bottom of our 2 to 500 MCHF intervention spectrum. The valuation issue here is volatility: a qualification for the Champions League league phase would bring, in a given season, of the order of 30 to 50 MCHF of additional UEFA revenue, capable of doubling annual turnover. The valuer never capitalises such a peak; it weights it by a probability of qualification and treats it as an exceptional flow, in line with the normalisation logic. This case illustrates the sector's golden rule: a training club's value sits in its squad and its trading capacity, not in a one-off league position.

A word from the founder

"A football club is the archetype of the company whose value lies elsewhere than on its balance sheet. Accounting shows a squad at amortised cost and ignores the trained players, whereas the true value, the market one, can be two to three times higher."

"Our job is to turn this invisible value into a defensible value. This requires cross-checking the revenue multiples, the discounted cash flows and the separate valuation of the intangibles, then honestly incorporating sporting volatility, which is the sector's real risk."

"In France as in Switzerland, the arrival of financial investors professionalises club governance and calls for independent, rigorous valuations. It is this discipline, at the crossroads of corporate finance and the economics of sport, that secures transactions and protects value."

Aristide Ruot, Ph.D.
Founder | Managing Director, Hectelion SA

FAQ: the 10 essential questions on football club valuation

Introduction: what to remember before the questions

The questions below capture the most frequent concerns of club owners, investors and shareholders. The guiding idea is simple: a club's value rests on intangible assets, squad, brand and broadcasting rights, that accounting reflects poorly and that only a market-value valuation restores, correcting for sporting volatility.

Q1: Which method should be used to value a football club?

No single method is enough. The sector is valued primarily at a multiple of revenue, for want of stable profits, complemented by a discounted cash flow for visible contractual revenue and by a sum of the parts that separately quantifies the squad, the brand and the real-estate assets. The valuer makes these approaches converge towards a reasoned range, consistent with a multi-method approach aligned with IVSC.

Q2: Do players appear as assets on the balance sheet?

Only partly. A bought player is recognised as an asset for the amount of his transfer fee, then amortised over the term of his contract, within the meaning of IAS 38. A player trained at the club, on the other hand, does not appear, because the standard prohibits capitalising an internally generated intangible whose cost is not reliably measurable. The balance sheet therefore structurally underestimates the value of the squad.

Q3: How is the value of a squad calculated?

Book value is not suitable, because it ignores trained players and is never revalued upward. One retains the market value, estimated player by player from age, contract, performance and comparable transfer references, drawing on specialised observatories such as the CIES Football Observatory. It is this market value, not the book value, that enters the club's valuation.

Q4: What revenue multiple should be applied to a club?

Observed transactions place enterprise value between one and three times annual revenue, depending on size, national market, profitability and sporting potential. A big European club with diversified revenue sits at the top of the range, a club in a narrower market, such as in Switzerland, at the bottom. The multiple is always calibrated on comparables, never applied mechanically.

Q5: How should TV rights be treated in the valuation?

Broadcasting rights are analysed contract by contract, examining their weight in revenue, their maturity and the soundness of the broadcaster. A club heavily dependent on a periodically renegotiated national contract carries a higher risk than a club with diversified commercial revenue, as the recent collapse of Ligue 1's TV rights has shown. This analysis conditions the visibility of future cash flows and therefore the discount rate retained.

Q6: How should the gains linked to cups and league position be integrated?

Run receipts, UEFA prize money, cup endowments and the variable share of rights linked to league position are by nature volatile. They are not capitalised as recurring revenue: they are normalised over a cycle and weighted by a probability of qualification or performance. An exceptional season is treated as a one-off flow, not as an annuity.

Q7: Why does a club's market value often exceed its book value?

Because the bulk of a club's value is intangible and underrepresented on the balance sheet: trained players are absent, bought players are amortised towards zero, and the brand and fan base are not recognised. Accounting records amortised costs, whereas the market values a potential. The gap between the two is precisely what an independent valuation reveals.

Q8: Does the UEFA financial framework influence a club's value?

Yes. The club licensing and financial sustainability regulations frame losses, transfer and wage spending relative to revenue, and the solvency of clubs. A compliant, well-managed club inspires more confidence and is valued better, whereas a club exposed to sanctions or a transfer ban suffers a risk discount.

Q9: Is an unlisted club valued like a listed club?

The principles are identical, but the application differs. The rare listed clubs provide useful market comparables, but an unlisted club bears an illiquidity discount and requires a finer analysis of governance and ownership. Hectelion acts only on unlisted clubs, listed companies falling to experts authorised by the AMF or FINMA.

Q10: From what size does a club warrant a professional valuation?

As soon as there are valuable intangible assets and a real wealth-management stake: a tradable squad, a brand, a planned sale, fundraising or investor entry. In practice, Hectelion acts on transactions of 2 to 500 MCHF, which covers the vast majority of French and Swiss professional clubs, from academies to top-division clubs.

Conclusion: making a club's intangible value a defensible value

A football club's value is not in its honours list, but in the quality of its revenue, the market value of its squad and the strength of its brand. This value is largely intangible and poorly reflected by accounting, which amortises bought players and ignores trained players. Valuing a club therefore means making this hidden wealth visible, by cross-checking the revenue multiples, the discounted cash flows and the separate valuation of the intangibles, then honestly correcting for the sporting volatility that constitutes the sector's real risk.

The financialisation of football, in France as in Switzerland, makes independent valuation a necessity, whether for an acquisition, a fundraising, a dispute or compliance with the UEFA framework. The two worked cases demonstrate it, from a Ligue 1 club whose squad is worth 100 M EUR on the market for 40 M EUR on the balance sheet, to a Swiss training club whose value sits in its trading capacity far more than in its league position. It remains necessary to establish this value with independence and to translate it with rigour, within a Franco-Swiss framework that has its own specificities. This is precisely the work of an independent valuer at the crossroads of finance and the economics of sport.

Article summary

A football club is a company whose value is essentially intangible. Its revenue rests on four pillars, broadcasting rights, commercial revenue, ticketing and player trading, whose balance determines the soundness of the model. For want of stable profits and abundant comparables, the sector is valued primarily at a multiple of revenue, between one and three times turnover, complemented by a discounted cash flow and by a sum of the parts that separately quantifies the squad, the brand and the real-estate assets.

The heart of the matter is as much accounting as financial. Within the meaning of IAS 38, the contract of a bought player is an intangible asset amortised over the term of the contract, whereas a player trained at the club does not appear on the balance sheet. The book value of the squad is therefore a misleading floor, and only a market-value valuation, drawing on specialised observatories, restores the true value. To this specificity is added a high sporting volatility, which requires reasoning over a cycle and in probability, never by extrapolating a peak.

The two worked cases quantify the stakes: a mid-table Ligue 1 club valued at around 125 M EUR of enterprise value, with a squad worth 100 M EUR on the market for 40 M EUR on the balance sheet, and a Swiss Super League training club with an equity value of 35 to 40 MCHF, whose value lies in trading more than in league position. The five mistakes to avoid recall the necessary discipline: distinguish book value from market value, do not extrapolate an exceptional season, analyse the structure of TV rights, do not count the players twice, and respect the Franco-Swiss dimension of the model. Hectelion, an independent Franco-Swiss firm, supports these analyses on transactions of 2 to 500 MCHF.

Sources

• CIES Football Observatory, estimation of the market value of players and squads
• Deloitte, Football Money League, ranking of club revenues
• FIFA, Global Transfer Report, international transfer market data
• IFRS Foundation, IAS 38 standard on intangible assets
• KPMG Football Benchmark, enterprise value methodology for football clubs
• L'Équipe, ranking of Ligue 1 club budgets 2025-2026
• Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP), Direction Nationale du Contrôle de Gestion (DNCG)
• RMC Sport, Ligue 1 TV-rights receipts 2025-2026
• Swiss Football League, centralised commercialisation and club licensing
• Transfermarkt, reference database of players' market values
• UEFA, club licensing and financial sustainability regulations

Author

Aristide Ruot, Ph.D.
Founder | Managing Director, Hectelion SA