Football’s Latest Power List Shows Fan Tokens™Are Here to Stay

Financial accounts for the 2024-25 European football season have been published, and five Fan Tokens™ clubs are ranked in the top ten list of world’s most valuable clubs.

Fan Tokens™ clubs sitting at the top table include Barcelona (2nd), Manchester City (6th), Arsenal (7th), Paris Saint-Germain (8th) and Tottenham Hotspur (9th), with Barça being one of only two teams who generated over $1 billion in revenue during the 2024-25 season.

Further down the list, with revenue in the hundreds of millions, were Fan Tokens™ clubs Atlético Madrid (11th), Juventus (13th), AC Milan (14th), and Inter Milan (15th). In total, 15 of the top 50 clubs offer Fan Tokens™.

What the Sportico Report Says

Sportico’s report revealed that the top 50 European clubs are worth a staggering $95.5 billion, an increase of 11% compared to the previous year.

Among other fascinating facts disclosed in the report was the threshold for football teams to crack the top 50, which has steadily increased in recent years: from $525 million in 2023 to $550 million in 2024, $610 million in 2025, and $675 million today.

Interestingly, the only other sports teams who generated over $1 billion in revenue were the Dallas Cowboys (NFL) and Los Angeles Dodgers (MLB). A reminder of how big the U.S. sports market is, at a time when Chiliz is preparing to launch the first U.S. team Fan Tokens™.

In fact, the year-on-year value increase of the NFL and NBA was more impressive than that of football, with both up by around 20%. The NHL rose by 17% while MLB increased by 12%.

Comparatively few football clubs cracked Sportico’s list of 100 most valuable sports teams, a collective worth $516 billion, with only Real Madrid (21st), Manchester United (30th), Barcelona (37th), and Manchester City (49th) making the top 40.

All of which shows that the value of sport is exploding. The global sports economy as a whole is worth $2.3 trillion and expected to rise to $3.7 trillion by 2030. The crypto market, meanwhile, is valued at $2.6 trillion – although it was as high as $4.2 trillion just last year.

Why Sports Royalty is Embracing Fan Tokens™

Engagement with supporters through Fan Tokens™ represents just one growing revenue stream for sporting giants. Since launching its first Fan Tokens™ over six years ago, Chiliz has generated over $700M for 70+ partners including the aforementioned heavyweights of European football.

These revenues will rise in the coming years due to several factors, including innovations like Fan Tokens™ Play, which links on-pitch performance to token supply, the omni-chain expansion of SportFi assets, and Chiliz’ impending return to the U.S. market on the eve of the World Cup. Many national teams are also partnered with Chiliz.

Tokenization is an incredibly promising avenue for sports organizations to explore, not least because it enables them to engage with supporters in novel ways, inspiring loyalty and driving ticket and merchandise sales. There is also the possibility, further down the line, of clubs tokenizing things like streaming rights, stadiums or IP, unlocking illiquid value that previously stayed locked on balance sheets.

Ultimately, the Sportico report highlights just how lucrative the global sports industry is and, in particular, how powerful U.S. franchises are compared to even elite soccer teams: the world’s 20 richest sports teams belong to the NFL, NBA, and MLB.

Which begs the question: which U.S. sports teams will Chiliz launch in 2026? And what could it do for Fan Tokens™ as an asset class, which have previously achieved a peak market cap of over $1 billion?

Ronnie McCluskey: Fan Tokens™ Market Reporter