Dallas Cowboys Overtake Real Madrid on Forbes List as World's Most Valuable Team

Spanish football giants Real Madrid have been usurped as the world's most valuable team by Texan NFL outfit Dallas Cowboys, according to Forbes.

Per Forbes' Mike Ozanian, the Cowboys—despite not having won the Super Bowl since 1995—are now worth $4 billion (£2.6 billion), while 2014 Champions League winners Real are valued at $3.26 billion (£2.1 billion).

Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

Real's La Liga rivals Barcelona are the fifth-most valuable team in the world, while Super Bowl champions New England Patriots and MLB team New York Yankees are tied in third.

The Premier League's highest placed outfit are Manchester United in sixth.

#	Team	Sport	Value (billion £)
1	Dallas Cowboys	American Football	2.59
2	Real Madrid	Football	2.11
3	New England Patriots	American Football	2.07
3	New York Yankees	Baseball	2.07
5	Barcelona	Football	2.05
6	Manchester United	Football	2.01
7	Washington Redskins	American Football	1.85
8	New York Giants	American Football	1.82
9	San Francisco 49ers	American Football	1.79
10	LA Lakers	Basketball	1.69
10	New York Jets	American Football	1.69

Back in July, in Forbes' survey, Real still sat atop the sports world's money pile, but the Cowboys have leapfrogged the Spaniards after the latest results. 

Ozanian partly attributes the Dallas outfit's continued financial success—this is the ninth consecutive year they have topped the list of NFL valuations—to the fact that their average attendance at the AT&T Stadium of 90,000 is the highest in the sport.

The Red Devils continue to rank highly despite a year-long absence from the Champions League thanks to their consistent annual revenue and new sponsorship deal with Adidas—worth £750 million over 10 years per BBC News' Bill Wilson.

Similar to the Cowboys, the fact that United consistently sell out Old Trafford—the Premier League's biggest stadium by some margin at over 75,000 seats—is a huge boost to their revenue.

Real's arch-rivals Barca have been more successful than the Madrid outfit in recent seasons—their treble win in 2014-15 was particularly galling for the Los Blancos faithful—and are a consistent presence at the top of the money list.

Outside of football—both American and soccer—the Yankees are the only baseball side in the top 10, while the LA Lakers are the NBA's sole representatives.