Man U world’s most valuable soccer club

NEW YORK — Manchester United has been rated by Forbes as the world’s most valuable soccer team for the second straight year. The team’s worth increased to $4.12 billion US from $3.69 billion a year ago and ranked just ahead of Real Madrid ($4.09 billion) and Barcelona ($4.06 billion). The magazine said Manchester United had nearly twice as much operating income as any other soccer team. Rounding out the top five are Bayern Munich ($3.06 billion) and Manchester City ($2.47 billion). Eight of the top 20 are English teams. Forbes attributes the dominance to the Premier League’s lucrative broadcasting deals. Forbes said most of the appreciation of club value is because of the decline in the U.S. dollar relative to the Euro since last year.