According to Transfermarkt, Celtic FC has a total market value of around £82 million (around €91 million) – this is far below that of the world’s most valuable football clubs. On the list of the most lucrative sports leagues, the Scottish Premiership is pretty low, with €209 million in revenues reported for the 2016-2017 season. According to Forbes contributor Mike Meehall Wood, the Premiership has itself to blame for this situation: in what he calls a “power and money grab”, the top football clubs in Scotland broke away from the Premier League in 1998 seeking higher broadcast revenues but has been declining ever since, with only the derbies between Celtic and the Sevco attracting a significant audience today. Where does the Scottish Premiership stand when it comes to revenues compared to the top tier football leagues of other nations? Let’s take a look at some of the most valuable football leagues in the world today.
Ligue 1
France and Monaco’s “Ligue 1” is the fifth most valuable football league in the world, with reported revenues of around €1.6 billion in the 2016-2017 season. The league operates on a system of promotion and relegation and has 20 clubs, with Paris Saint-Germain – perhaps the most lucrative football club in France – as its current champion.
Aside from its home countries, Ligue 1 matches are broadcast across Europe (in the UK, live matches and highlights are broadcast by BT Sport), North Africa, the US, and Brazil.
Serie A
Italy may not have the most valuable football teams but it has a great enthusiasm for football – thus Serie A, its top tier football league, has a massive following. And quite a bit of revenue, it seems – in the 2016-2017 season, it pocketed more than €2.2 billion in revenues.
Many Serie A matches can be followed locally through Sky Italia and DAZN, a sports streaming service, while internationally, its matches are watched by fans in countries ranging from Albania to the United States.
La Liga
Spain’s “La Liga” has two of the most famous football clubs in the world: Barcelona and Real Madrid. It is also a very lucrative league, with reported revenues of more than €3.3 billion in the 2016-2017 season. The two teams mentioned above usually dominate the league (Real Madrid has won the title 33 times, while Barcelona, 25 times). It is one of the most popular sports leagues in the world, with an average attendance of 26,983 for matches. The league’s matches are broadcast pretty much all over the world.
Barcelona is based in Catalonia, a region in a situation somewhat similar to Scotland.
Bundesliga
Germany’s Bundesliga pocketed revenues of €3.8 billion in the 2017-2018 season, making it the second most lucrative league in the world. It has 18 teams, quite a few of them pretty famous, too – Bayern Munich, the club that won the title 28 times, for example, has fans and followers all over the world.
Bundesliga is the football league with the highest stadium attendance in the world, and it is broadcast in over 200 countries, making it one of the most popular ones, too.
Premier League
England’s Premier League is the most lucrative football league in the world, with reported revenues of €5.3 billion in the 2016-2017 season. Its most famous (and most valuable) team is Manchester United, having won the title 13 times since its inception. The league has high-profile sponsors and sells its broadcast rights at a high price each year – it is broadcast in 212 territories, reaching around 650 million homes.
