Today’s long overdue Champions League final, has no Messi, no Cristiano Ronaldo, and yet it pits together two of the most valuable teams in global football.
Perhaps it will go down in history for many reasons other than the traditional “winner” record – a new, first time winner, a 5th winner and entry to an elite group of clubs at that level – but also for the many “numbers’ surrounding it,
Paulo do Carmo writes that on one side we have the favourites to lift old “big ears”, FC Bayern Munchen.
FC Baynern Munich – FB Page
Bayern as they are popularly knows is a club steeped in history and success, founded in 1900 – a whopping 120 years ago.
The club/brand is valued at a massive €929M, although some sources claim it is as much as €2.6B.
- Bayern, despite having a global following, and being the most important, and most supported club in Germany, surprisingly only has 293 000 registered members.
- Bayern has won the champions league on 5 previous occasions (3 in the previous format – European Cup and 3 under the Champions League branded format). They have reached the final an incredible, 10 previous times.
- The team comes to this final as the current Bundesliga champions and also the recently crowned, new champions…a total 30 championships.
- Those championships go with the 30 German Cups, 1 FIFA Club World Cup, 1 UEFA (Europa League) trophy, 2 Intercontinental Cups, 1 European Cup Winners Cup , 6 League Cups, 1 UEFA Super Cup and 7 German Super Cups – that is just to mention the main titles.
- The club’s sponsorship deal with Adidas (one of the largest in football) is worth a reported €51M as a kit sponsor
- Bayern’s TV rights deal is worth an eye watering €635M per annum…and growing.
- Bayern also fields a young team with a squad averaging 25.5 years old and balanced with 15 German and 15 foreign players, of the total of 30.
On the opposite side, PSG (or Paris Saint Germain FC), is a young toddler in European footballing terms, having only been founded in 1970…a mere 50 years ago.
Paris St Germain – FB page
Owned for the last few years by Qatar Sports Investments, the club has in a short period taken major steps in both value and performance on the field. The club is valued at €800M and already has a winning culture.
- As a young club, and without published members numbers, the support base tends to be niche. However it is reported, but unverified, that the membership base stands at around the 100 000 mark. In saying this, they are one of the most supported clubs in the world, mostly due to the mass marketing appeal of their star players in recent years.
- This is PSG’s first Champions League final. Historically, their best performances have been limited to reaching the quarter finals.
- PSG also reaches this final as French League Champions, and recently crowned – again – for the 9th time.
- Those Championships in France go along with 13 French Cups, 9 French League Cups, 9 French Super Cups and importantly, 1 European Cup Winners Cup trophy. This last trophy making them one of only 2 French Clubs to have ever won a major European trophy.
- PSG, currently has the worlds biggest football kit sponsorship deal – a very generous, €150M deal with Nike. In the TV rights sector, their deal is the biggest in France but pale in significance to their German counterparts, with a “paltry” €247M deal.
- Their team is replete with young stars and from a larger squad (36) they are overwhelmingly filled with foreign players (23) – they do however have an average age of 24.5, as they begin a new era of building, wherein the inclusion of academy developed talent is blended with established star power.
In what is building up to be salivating prospect of a match, and with both teams champions in their own rights, the value of the teams is the largest ever on display in a Champions league final. A combined €1.7B in player value takes the field. There is however a startling change beginning to emerge in the spending patterns of both the clubs. PSG, despite being reputed as big spenders, have over the last two transfer windows, spent a mere €95M on 4 players. Bayern, similarly, having loosed their traditionally tight purse strings in recent years, have spent a mere €145M on 6 players. Significantly less than several of their European competitors.
You could say Bayern has the pedigree and experience in European competitions to make “big ears” return to Bavaria, but PSG comes to the party with other ideas. As the young disrupters to the old guard – filled with potential and enthusiasm and looking to place “big ears” under the Eiffel Tower for the first time in history, PSG will be looking to bring to fruition the dreams of most Qatari and Parisian football fans.
The wisdom of the crowds? The betting houses have Bayern Munchen as a strong favourite and are reporting 82.5% of all bets are favouring the Germans, with only 14.57% of bets on the Parisians – the balance on the draw.
An incredible 92% of all bettors believe that there will 3 or more goals, and bets like “Both teams to score” are carrying disproportionately low odds because of the grand belief that whatever happens the match will carry a festival of goals.
The real winner tonight – Football fans, loyal and neutral alike.
You might like to check out our Soccer / Football App
