Real Madrid top Forbes' most valuable teams list

The value of the 10-time European champions rose 12 percent to $3.6 billion (2.5 billion pounds), making them the world's second most valuable sports team, surpassed only by the National Football League's Dallas Cowboys ($4 billion), Forbes said in a statement.

(Reuters)

Barcelona were second on the list with a value of $3.5 billion, also up 12 percent from last year. Manchester United ($3.3 billion), Bayern Munich ($2.7 billion) and Arsenal ($2 billion) rounded out the top five.

According to Forbes, the 20 most valuable football teams are worth an average of $1.44 billion, a 24 percent jump from last year that was driven by new lucrative television deals.

(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes)