Football Club Brand Analysis 2025

UNCOVERING THE DIGITAL STRATEGIES DRIVING SUCCESS FOR TOP 50 MOST VALUED FOOTBALL CLUBS

About this whitepaper

If on-field performance gets you in the game, is your digital maturity strong enough to keep you at the top? In an increasingly crowded football market, the world’s elite clubs are showing that digital strength provides a key competitive advantage.

‍We aim to bridge the gap between athletic performance and the digital world, turning global engagement into measurable growth. This report provides a strategic summary of the key trends and digital insights currently shaping the elite game. The Top 50 Digital Performance Ranking will be officially unveiled on March 17 in London at the Unlocking Investment Opportunities in the Business of Sport vol. 2 private event. The complete white paper (including the full Digital Championship ranking and strategic investor insights) will become available following the live presentation.
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‍Based on data collected in November 2025, this analysis leverages Brand Finance's Football 50 (2025) report to assess the digital strategies of Europe’s top 50 football clubs by brand value.

The core objective of this analysis is to evaluate how top-tier clubs leverage digital tools to strengthen their global positioning. By introducing our Digital Due Diligence (DDD) framework, we provide strategic insights into the correlation between online execution and financial brand value.

This white paper introduces the first pillar of our comprehensive Digital Due Diligence (DDD) framework, focusing specifically on Digital Trends and Industry Insights rather than delivering a full-scale assessment. A complete 360-degree DDD evaluation extends beyond this scope to include deep analysis of the Technology Ecosystem and MarTech stack, Technology Capabilities, Brand Performance based on historical data, and Reputational Risk through advanced sentiment analysis.

Who is scoring the most digital goals?

The full reveal goes live on March 17 in London.

Social media landscape

Social media follower count directly drives incremental annual revenue, higher valuation multiples, and long-term economic security, making it an important digital indicator. 

Real Madrid and FC Barcelona lead among football clubs in social media presence, each commanding follower bases well over 400 million across platforms.

Channel-specific, Facebook and Instagram dominate, with TikTok showing particularly strong performance that signals a shift in consumer preferences toward dynamic, algorithm-driven content strategies. LinkedIn and Twitch remain marginal channels in this industry. However, their footprint represents a high-upside, low-competition opportunity to capture incremental high-margin revenue and monetise new demographics before mainstream saturation.

Organic and webpage performance

Strong web performance reflects a mature digital infrastructure, enabling faster fan conversions, reduced acquisition costs, and superior engagement, key to unlocking scalable digital revenue in the direct-to-fan era. 
Among clubs, there is a strong overall web performance, as the majority of their websites deliver good to excellent performance scores on both desktop and mobile.

Real Madrid demonstrates a substantial performance gap, as the club generates well above the sector average in monthly organic visits and commands more than 4× the average number of organic keywords.

Digital brand strength

Digital popularity is an indicator of long-term valuation resilience, even in periods of on-pitch underperformance, driving elevated brand strength.
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Among the analysed top 50 brands, British and German clubs constitute the largest proportion.

While Real Madrid stands out as the leader in monthly search popularity, the short-term digital popularity winners are PSG, S.L. Benfica, and Real Betis Balompié.

Join the Live Reveal in London

Be among the first to access the Top 50 Digital Performance Ranking white paper, unveiled live at:

• Unlocking Investment Opportunities in the Business of Sport vol. 2
• HEC Paris UK House, London
• March 17

Join the Live Reveal in London

This is not the first time we’ve been excited about football. Last year, we published the Football Club Brand Analysis 2024 and unveiled a refreshed visual identity and UI/UX concept for England’s Newcastle United FC. Our distinctive approach has been recognized in the Best Football Designs category by the Best Design Awards.

Learn more about our tailored Digital Due Diligence frameworks, designed to meet your specific needs. Whether you're focused on developing high-ROI digital models for business growth or an investment manager aiming to enhance ROI in the Private Equity, Venture Capital, and Family Fund spaces, our comprehensive assessments provide the insights necessary for informed decision-making and long-term success.

About

Cognitive Creators is a digital transformation consultancy that helps global leaders and like-minded brands to transition into the digital future.

We have been challenging conventional business thinking and identifying new digital horizons by developing frameworks that make digital adoption intuitive and sustainable. Our approach makes building the path of change possible where others struggle to decipher the challenges that the digital world brings.