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Real Madrid and Barcelona neck-and-neck as world’s most valuable football brands in the face of COVID-19

Published

6 years ago

July 30, 2020

George Miller

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Real Madrid remain world’s most valuable football brand, but Barcelona narrow the gap to just €6 million
COVID-19 causes total brand value of top 50 clubs to decrease for the first time in 6 years – €751 million or 3.7% is knocked off
English clubs dominate the ranking with six brands in top 10 and 19 in top 50
Liverpool inches two spots up into 4^th place, following historic Premier League win
Bundesliga’s 1. FC Köln is this year’s fastest-growing brand, followed by Leicester City and RB Leipzig – all recording over 40% growth
Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium takes top spot in Buro Happold’s Venue Performance Rating

Real Madrid remain the most valuable football club brand in the world for 2020, according to the latest edition of the Brand Finance Football Annual. Boosted by winning the LaLiga title for the first time since 2017, the club retained its position at the top of the table in the football industry, but against a backdrop of economic and social disruption, caused primarily by the COVID-19 pandemic, Real Madrid’s brand value has declined by 14% to €1,419 million.

Real Madrid’s disappointing on-pitch performance prior to 2019-20, which saw an earlier-than-normal exit from the UEFA Champions League in 2018-19 and a second successive season adrift of LaLiga champions Barcelona, eroded the club’s dominance of the Brand Finance ranking. The situation was exacerbated by COVID-19, along with a lack of stability around the management of the team. Barcelona, Real’s fierce rivals, are just €6 million behind Real with a brand value of €1,413 million, supported by strong and diverse revenue generation and continued domestic performance in Spain.

COVID-19 knocks off €751 million of brand value

Real Madrid is not the only club to see a drop in brand value this year. COVID-19 has caused the total value of the top 50 football brands to decrease for the first time in 6 years. Through its effect on the three main revenue streams – Matchday, Broadcasting, and Commercial – €751 million or 3.7% has been knocked off the cumulative brand value of the world’s top 50 most valuable football clubs.

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged professional football worldwide and across all levels. Matchday income for the 501 games remaining in the big 5 leagues dropped to zero, but it is often the smaller clubs and leagues which are more reliant on this revenue stream – in Scotland it makes up 43% of total revenue, compared to only 13% in England.

There have been some positive signs, as Southampton vs Manchester City on BBC broke the Premier League TV audience record with 5.7 million viewers, but the longer-term damage to the game’s economic structure has yet to be revealed.

Richard Haigh, Managing Director of Brand Finance, commented:

“Top-level football has been confronted with the largest existential threat since the Second World War. Loss of income, coupled with health concerns about mass gatherings, have raised question marks about the future of the industry and the financial resilience of clubs across all levels. The full damage of the COVID-19 crisis has yet to unfold and it is not inconceivable there will be casualties in the form of club bankruptcies and changes in ownership.”

Despite the huge implications of COVID-19 for football clubs and their financial results, the majority of the brand value is secured by the clubs’ long-term future – provided they can survive the initial shock. For example, only 21% of Real Madrid’s brand value is delivered by the next five years’ financial results.

Premier power

Real Madrid and Barcelona are followed by a cluster of English Premier League clubs in the Brand Finance Football Annual 2020 ranking, with Manchester United in 3^rd position after their brand value fell by 11% to €1,314 million. Liverpool, who won their first league title since 1990 in runaway style, are in 4^th spot jumping above Manchester City in terms of brand value, rising from €1,191 million in 2019 to €1,262 million, a 6% increase. Chelsea dropped one place in the table to 8^th after their value fell for the fourth consecutive year to €949 million. This was arguably due to the club being absent from the UEFA Champions League and also suffering a transfer ban after being charged with breaking Financial Fair Play Regulations.

Affiliates

PartnerMatrix teams with Broadway Platform to roll out Agent System to PAM clients

Published

44 minutes ago

June 29, 2026

Wladimir P.

partnermatrix-teams-with-broadway-platform-to-roll-out-agent-system-to-pam-clients

PartnerMatrix, part of the EveryMatrix Group, has signed an exclusive collaboration with Broadway Platform, a Player Account Management platform (PAM) developed by SPRIBE, to expand distribution of the PartnerMatrix Agent System. The agreement was announced Monday, June 29th, 2026, in Malta.

Under the deal, Broadway Platform will introduce the PartnerMatrix Agent System to its clients as a tool to manage and scale offline traffic operations alongside digital affiliate activity.

PartnerMatrix said the Agent System is designed to give operators visibility and control over agent performance, commission structures and player activity within a connected environment, supporting online and offline traffic management across multiple territories.

Vahe Khalatyan, Head of PartnerMatrix, said: “We are pleased to launch this collaboration with Broadway and expand the reach of our Agent System to a wider network of operators.
“Operators increasingly need stronger control across both online and offline acquisition channels, and this collaboration helps bring that capability to more partners globally.”

Giorgi Samkharadze, Director at Broadway Platform, said: “We’re constantly looking for ways to help our partners grow more efficiently across diverse markets. The PartnerMatrix Agent System offers operators a powerful framework for managing both affiliate and agent-driven acquisition within a single ecosystem.
“As our global footprint continues to expand, particularly across emerging markets where offline traffic remains highly influential, we see significant value in providing our partners with access to scalable solutions that support sustainable growth.”

The post PartnerMatrix teams with Broadway Platform to roll out Agent System to PAM clients appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

affiliate marketing

Intelitics adds generative AI visual reporting tool for iGaming marketers

Published

44 minutes ago

June 29, 2026

Wladimir P.

intelitics-adds-generative-ai-visual-reporting-tool-for-igaming-marketers

Intelitics has launched Actionable Intelligence, a generative AI reporting feature designed to let iGaming and sports betting marketing teams create custom data visualisations on demand using plain-language questions.

The company said the tool builds on Intelitics’ existing reporting stack used to track partner performance, campaign ROI and acquisition metrics. Instead of commissioning a new report or writing code, users can query the same dataset and receive a chart or visualisation in response.

Use cases cited by Intelitics include comparing partner performance by traffic source, drilling into individual campaigns, and breaking down player value by acquisition channel. Intelitics said the feature interprets iGaming and affiliate marketing terms including partners, offers, traffic sources, player value, acquisition channels, GGR and NGR, without requiring users to translate requests into SQL.

“The data our customers need to make better decisions has always been inside Intelitics,” said Allan Stone, founder and CEO of Intelitics. “Actionable Intelligence makes it accessible on their terms, with no technical skills required and no waiting for a report to be built. We designed it so that everyone on a marketing team, not just the analysts, can explore their data and act on what they find – and we built it to understand the way iGaming and affiliate marketers actually talk about their business, from partners and offers to GGR and NGR.”

On data governance, Intelitics said Actionable Intelligence runs within each customer’s Intelitics environment. The company stated that customer data is not pooled across accounts, shared with third parties, or used to train any model outside that environment, and that each visualisation is generated only from the customer’s own Intelitics data. The feature is available to Intelitics customers.

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Brand Partnerships

Stake names UFC flyweight contender Tracy Cortez as global ambassador

Published

44 minutes ago

June 29, 2026

Wladimir P.

stake-names-ufc-flyweight-contender-tracy-cortez-as-global-ambassador

Stake has appointed UFC women’s flyweight contender Tracy Cortez as a global ambassador, with the partnership set to begin in June 2026.

The company said the deal adds Cortez—currently ranked No. 8 at women’s flyweight—to its growing group of UFC athletes and ambassadors. Stake also listed Alex Pereira, Max Holloway, Merab Dvalishvili, Caio Borralho and Alexandre Pantoja among its current UFC ambassadors.

Cortez holds a 12-3 record, according to Stake, and rose through Dana White’s Contender Series in 2019. The company also referenced an 11-fight win streak during her career.

Akhil Sarin, Chief Marketing Officer at Stake, said: “Tracy Cortez is a phenomenal athlete, who we’re really excited to be partnering with in this new ambassadorial role. She has proven herself to be a real contender in the UFC flyweight division already, and as she comes into her prime, Stake is proud to support her journey.

“Tracy’s personality and competitive spirit is something which aligns with our values at Stake – she’s fun, the fans love her, and we’re looking forward to bringing a valuable partnership to MMA fans.”

Stake ambassador Tracy Cortez added: “Partnering with Stake feels like the perfect fit for this chapter of my career. This is a brand at the cutting edge of sports and entertainment, and they value the same grit and authenticity that I bring to every fight.

“I’m ready to engage with my supporters in a whole new way and take this journey to the next level together.”

The post Stake names UFC flyweight contender Tracy Cortez as global ambassador appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.