Manchester United's captain Rio Ferdinand (C) celebrates with the trophy after winning the English League Cup final soccer match against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley Stadium in London March 1, 2009. [Xinhua/Reuters File Photo] |
Manchester United has been the most valuable soccer team for the sixth straight year on a list released by Forbes magazine.
The 18-time English Premiership champion was valuated 1.8 billion U.S. dollars as a group of investors and fans try to buy the club which has a heavy debt of 1.1 billion dollars.
Man. United beats Spain's Real Madrid, at 1.323 billion dollars, to the second place, according to Forbes' estimation, which takes into account revenue growth, profitability and debt levels in the 2008-09 season.
Arsenal was the third at 1.181 billion dollars in the list, while Spain's Barcelona has leapt to fourth from seventh after winning the Champions League and a league and cup double last season.
German side Bayern Munich is the fifth after its value dropped by 11 percent to 990 million dollars, and England's Liverpool is the sixth at 822 million dollars.