The best football shares to watch

The World’s Game?

Football is one of the world's most commercially powerful sports, yet relatively few top clubs are available to trade or invest in on the stock market. Most of the biggest names remain privately owned or structured as member-controlled entities. The handful that are publicly listed offer investors a distinctive and often volatile opportunity: the chance to hold a stake in a global sporting brand, with returns driven not only by financial performance but by results on the pitch.

Why are so few football clubs listed on the stock market?

Most of the world's biggest football clubs are not publicly listed. Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Liverpool are either member-owned, privately held by billionaire owners, or structured in ways that make a stock market listing either legally complicated or commercially unattractive to their ownership groups.

The clubs that have listed have generally done so to raise capital for stadium development, player investment, or to provide an exit route for previous owners. But the experience of most listed clubs has been mixed at best.

Share prices tend to be highly sensitive to on-pitch performance, transfer activity and European competition income, making them considerably more volatile than comparable businesses in other sectors. Some teams are also promoted and relegated more than others, further impacting share prices. Investors new to this area may find it useful to read the broader guide to how to invest in stocks before considering individual club shares.

*Source: Deloitte Football Money League 2026

Which football clubs can you buy shares in?

The following clubs had accessible public listings as of mid-2026. Note that smaller clubs may be listed on local exchanges with limited liquidity.

Football finance: the numbers at a glimpse

€12.4bn Combined revenue of the top 20 clubs in 2024/25*

€1.2bn Real Madrid's revenue in 2024/25, the highest in football history*

~5 Major football clubs with accessible public listings worldwide

*Source: Deloitte Football Money League 2026

Football club stock profiles: latest financials

The four profiles below focus on the most widely traded clubs with the most recent published results. All figures are from official annual reports unless stated.

1. Manchester United (NYSE: MANU)
2. Borussia Dortmund (XETRA: BVB)
3. Juventus (Borsa Italiana: JUVE)
4. Celtic (LSE AIM: CCPA)

Manchester United (NYSE: MANU)

• Revenue 2024/25: £666.5m (record high), up 0.7% year-on-year. Commercial revenue rose 10% to £333m, representing 50% of total revenue.
• Net loss 2024/25: £33m, significantly reduced from £113m the prior year. Operating loss fell from £69.3m to £18.4m.
• Market cap: Approximately $3.97bn, making it the world's most commercially powerful listed football club by market capitalisation.
• Key context: Manchester United finished 15th in the Premier League in 2024/25, their lowest top-flight placing in 51 years, and had no Champions League football. The absence of UCL participation cost the club close to £50m in lost broadcast distributions. In 2025/26, they are absent from European competition entirely.

Manchester United is the only Premier League club listed on a US exchange, which gives it access to a larger pool of institutional and retail investors. However, the stock's trajectory has been closely tied to on-pitch fortunes and the ongoing governance questions around the Glazer family's ownership and Jim Ratcliffe's co-ownership.

The shares fell around 6% on the day the 2024/25 results were announced despite the record revenues, reflecting investor concern over continued losses and the lack of European income. For those investing for the first time, Manchester United illustrates how even record revenues do not guarantee a rising share price.

Borussia Dortmund (XETRA: BVB)

• Revenue 2024/25: €526m (record high), up 3.3% from €509m the prior year.
• Net profit 2024/25: €6.5m, down 85% from €44.3m in 2023/24. The decline was driven by significantly lower transfer income compared to the prior year, which had benefited from the Jude Bellingham sale.
• Valuation: Forbes valued the club at $2.2bn in May 2026, ranking it 12th among the world's most valuable clubs.
• Key context: BVB is the only Bundesliga club to have listed on the stock market. Its shares have struggled to recover to anywhere near their €11 IPO price from 2000, trading around €3-4 in recent years. The club's business model is deliberately diversified, with revenue streams from hotel bookings, travel services and a medical rehabilitation centre alongside football.

Borussia Dortmund offers investors a useful case study in how transfer market volatility can swing a club's profitability dramatically from one year to the next. The same club that posted a net profit of over €44m in 2023/24 on the back of a Champions League final run and strong transfer income returned only €6.5m the following year. The record operating revenue of €526m provides a solid base, but the stock's long-term chart tells its own story.

Juventus (Borsa Italiana: JUVE)

• Revenue 2024/25: €440m, up 18% from €372m. The increase was driven by a return to the Champions League and participation in the FIFA Club World Cup, with broadcasting revenue up 78% to €177m.
• Net loss 2024/25: €58m after tax, significantly improved from €199m the prior year. Pre-tax loss was €50m, down from €196m.
• Share price: Traded in a broad €2.00-€3.50 range over 2024-25, with the stock around €2.80 in January 2026.
• Key context: Juventus has faced a turbulent several years including accounting scandals, European bans and a run of disappointing domestic seasons after their record nine consecutive Serie A titles. The 2024/25 results represent meaningful progress on reducing losses, though the club still finished a below-par fourth in Serie A.

Juventus is ranked 16th in the Deloitte Football Money League for 2024/25. While the club's ongoing losses remain a concern, the trajectory is improving, and the return to Champions League football is commercially significant. Investors should note that Juventus has not paid a dividend in recent years given its loss-making position.

Celtic (LSE AIM: CCPA)

• Revenue 2024/25: £143.6m, up 15.3% from £124.6m. The increase was driven by a strong Champions League campaign and expanded group stage format guaranteeing eight matches.
• Profit after tax 2024/25: £33.9m, more than double the £13.4m the prior year. Player trading gains of £31.5m were a key contributor.
• Key context: Celtic is listed on AIM and is the only UK football club currently listed in London. The club's financial performance is closely tied to Champions League participation: in the three seasons it has reached the group stage or equivalent, revenue has exceeded £100m. Celtic qualified for the Champions League again in 2025/26.

Celtic's results stand out among the listed clubs for being genuinely profitable and for showing consistent improvement. The club also benefits from a disciplined player trading strategy that generates meaningful income from player sales without undermining squad quality. However, Celtic's market capitalisation is considerably smaller than Manchester United or Borussia Dortmund, and liquidity on the AIM market can be more limited.

What drives football club share prices?

Football club stocks are influenced by many of the same factors as other companies, but with several dynamics that are unique to the sport. They can offer blue sky potential, as clubs that don’t win as often as others will be priced accordingly (and they can still win trophies).

• On-pitch results: league position, cup runs and European qualification directly affect revenue projections and are among the most immediate drivers of short-term price movements.
• European competition income: Champions League participation can add tens of millions of pounds or euros to annual revenue. Missing out for a single season creates a measurable impact on financial forecasts, as Manchester United's 2024/25 results demonstrate.
• Transfer activity: player registrations sit on the balance sheet and transfer income can make the difference between profit and loss in any given year, as Borussia Dortmund's results illustrate.
• Broadcasting deals: Premier League clubs benefit from the most lucrative domestic broadcast deal in world football. Clubs in other leagues operate with structurally lower TV income.
• wnership and governance: changes in ownership structure, shareholder disputes and governance concerns can weigh on valuations independently of sporting or financial performance.
• Macroeconomic conditions: consumer spending, advertising budgets and sponsorship markets all influence commercial revenues. One only need look at the example of Wrexham, a privately owned and invested football club that has enjoyed several consecutive promotions (and increasing share prices) to see how much capital can be generated from the theme.

How to buy shares in a football club

Buying shares in a listed football club works in the same way as buying any other stock. You will need a share dealing account or ISA with a broker that has access to the exchange the club is listed on. Manchester United trades on the NYSE in the US; Borussia Dortmund on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange; Juventus on the Milan exchange; and Celtic on London's AIM market. When choosing where to invest, it is worth reviewing our guide to how to choose an investment platform, which covers the key factors to consider.

If you are newer to stock investing, you may also want to read our introduction to investing for beginners and the guide to starting with £100 before committing capital to individual stocks.

What are the risks of investing in football club stocks?

Investing in a football club sounds like a tantalising proposition, but like all investments it comes with its share of risks.

1. Dependence on sporting results means share prices can fall sharply after a bad run of form, a managerial change, or an unexpected cup exit.
2. European competition income is binary: qualifying or not qualifying for the Champions League can have a multi-million pound impact on annual revenues.
3. Football clubs carry large and often unpredictable wage bills, and player valuations on the balance sheet can be difficult to assess.
4. Transfer income is volatile and should not be treated as a reliable recurring revenue stream.
5. Many listed clubs have histories of persistent losses despite strong revenue growth
6. Liquidity can be thin, particularly for smaller clubs listed on secondary markets such as AIM
7. Currency risk applies where the club trades in a different currency to your home currency

Football club stocks FAQs