2024 has been a very productive year for the two most powerful teams in the Spanish LaLiga. FC Barcelona and Real Madrid have risen to the top as the most valuable teams of the calendar year, driven by four of the most valuable players on the world football stage. The meteoric rise of Lamine Yamal was enough to put the Catalans in first place, followed by the trio Vinicius Jr., Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappé, who together have surpassed Manchester City among current clubs, even taking into account the recent devaluation of the French player. Juventus completes the podium as the third team to have progressed the most in market value during this annual campaign.
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Barcelona received an exceptional boost from the form of Lamine Yamal, a 17-year-old Spaniard who has already surpassed 70 official appearances with the first team and who, by mid-2024, was crowned European champion. Due to his immense potential and youth, his rise in market value has been exceptionally rapid, and today he boasts a personal value of €180 million, making him the third most valuable footballer in the world. In 2024 alone, Lamine benefited from an increase of 120 million euros, starting the year at 60 million euros and thus entering the elite group of world football by being the only professional whose increase exceeds three digits.
Throughout the year, Barça posted a valuation of €196.5 million, reaching €1.020 billion as the fifth most valuable squad in the world. In this growth ranking, Real Madrid recorded a jump of 195 million euros, recalling the free transfer of Mbappé with an initial market value of 180 million euros and the increase in the value of Vinicius to 200 million euros. Although several key figures at the club have seen significant drops in their valuations, and Mbappé himself suffered a €20 million cut in the last update, having three of the five players most valuable of the moment balanced the scales for Carlo Ancelotti’s team.
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Vinicius, for example, was the fourth most valuable player of 2024 with an increase of 50 million euros, a personal increase that allowed the Madrid club to now become the most valuable in the world with 1.230 billion euros, surpassing Juventus, Atalanta and Sporting Lisbon among those who have progressed the most. Both Serie A teams are far behind in terms of market values compared to their Spanish counterparts, with the Turin club reaching just €615 million and the Bergamo side coming in at €487 million. However, Italian representatives also saw increases exceeding 160 million euros.
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Sporting’s case is strengthened by the impressive goalscoring ability of Viktor Gyökeres, who recorded 70 goals during his time in Portugal and is already valued at €75 million. In 2024, the Swedish striker saw an increase of 30 million euros, and his club grew by 158.7 million euros, also reinforced by the significant departure of Ruben Amorim as coach, who left the Portuguese team to join the chaos at Manchester United. Outside the big leagues, Sporting Lisbon has recently become a reference and could be an interesting competitor in the Champions League final.
