When Allianz bought an 8.3% stake in Bayern Munich two years ago it was an unusual event - insurance companies are better known for paying for a logo on a shirt rather than buying part of the team and German clubs hardly ever sell shares. The Allianz deal valued the team at £1.25 billion in 2014 - Forbes has just valued the club at £1.87 billion - a tidy little profit in just 2 years.

Bayern Munich isn't the only team increasing in value - lucrative TV deals, competing bidders for team kit sponsorship and the fact that teams are actually starting to turn a profit all add to their value. Chuck  in the fact that UEFA has increased the Champions League payout by around 50% and you can see that anyone who invested in a football team a year or two ago might look rather clever right now.

Forbes' figures put the average value of the top 20 teams in the world at £1 billion - a quarter more than just one year ago.

And the most valuable teams? Real Madrid apparently, worth £2.5 billion - in terms of other sports this puts them as the second most valuable team in the world - beaten only by the Dallas Cowboys' £2.77 billion valuation.
 

Team	Value (billion)
Dallas Cowboys	£2.77
Real Madrid	£2.5
Barcelona	£2.45
Manchester United	£2.29
New England Patriots	£2.21