Barca named 4th most valuable sports team

La Liga giants Barcelona are the world’s fourth most valuable sports team, according to an annual list published by Forbes.

Last month, Barca leapfrogged Spanish rivals Real Madrid to become the world’s most valuable football club with a valuation of $4.76 billion.

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NFL’s Dallas Cowboys topped the list which was published on Friday and the average value of the world’s 50 leading sports teams rose to $3.43bn in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Forbes said the average value of the world’s 50 most valuable teams on the list was up 11% from last year’s ranking.

That increase during a year in which the sporting calendar was upended due to the pandemic while many competitions were held in empty venues was attributed to ever-escalating media rights deals, Forbes said.

The Cowboys, who have topped the list since they unseated Madrid in 2016, were valued at $5.7bn, a 3.6% rise when compared to last year.

Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees ($5.3bn), the National Basketball Association’s New York Knicks ($5bn) and soccer’s Barcelona ($4.76bn) and Madrid ($4.75bn) rounded out the top five.

The list was made up of teams from four sports, with the NFL leading the way with 26, followed by basketball (9), football (9) and baseball (6).

Forbes’ Top 10 most valuable sports teams in the world:

1. Dallas Cowboys (NFL) $5.7bn

2. New York Yankees (MLB) $5.25bn

3. New York Knicks (NBA) $5bn

4. Barcelona (Football) $4.76bn

5. Real Madrid (Football) $4.75bn

6. Golden State Warriors (NBA) $4.7bn

7. Los Angeles Lakers (NBA) $4.6bn

8. New England Patriots (NFL) $4.4bn

9. New York Giants (NFL) $4.3bn

10. Bayern Munich (Football) $4.21bn