The top ten in the firm’s ‘enterprise value’ (EV) table remains unchanged since last year with Champions League finalists Liverpool in eighth place in the rankings.

The ‘Red Devils’ scored an EV of €3.25m, ahead of the other Champions League finalists Real Madrid at €2.92m and Barcelona’s €2.78m.

Tottenham Hotspur demonstrated the highest EV increase (27% in euros; 33% in sterling) over the year and is up 61% over the past two seasons.

The total EV value of Europe’s 32 leading clubs grew by 9% during the season, to reach €32.5bn.

The study, based on the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons, takes into consideration five football-specific metrics: profitability, popularity, sporting potential, broadcasting rights and stadium ownership.

English clubs, which KPMG says enjoy significantly higher broadcasting revenues than their peers, occupy nine spots in the top 20 as a result of West Ham joining the ranking. Of these, six are in the top 10.

The Italian club SSC Napoli and English club Leicester City are the only two that recorded a pre-tax profit higher than €100m, with €101m and €108m respectively.

Andrea Sartori, KPMG's global head of sports and the report's author, said: ‘Despite lower growth (14%) versus last year, the football industry continues its rise, with a second successive season of an EV increase (9%) for the top 32 clubs included in our ranking. Overall growth is driven by different factors, such as the increase in operating revenues of the top 32, at 8%.

‘Eye-catching transfer deals and spiralling staff costs have not prevented such clubs from registering a striking upward trend, as the profits before taxes increased by some 17 times in comparison to the previous year.’

As well as the European competition final, Saturday also sees the Football League Championship play-off final to secure the last remaining promotion spot for the right to play in the Premier League next season.

Dan Jones, partner and head of the sports business group at Deloitte, said: ‘Whilst in football terms the UEFA Champions League Final is the bigger game, the financial rewards on offer in Kiev are dwarfed by those at stake in North London.

‘The difference between winning and losing for Liverpool this weekend, is a mere £4m in distributions from UEFA (with any inbound sponsor bonuses likely to be at least in part offset by outgoing player and management bonuses) and they are already assured of appearing in next year’s competition.’

In contrast, Deloitte calculates the winner of Aston Villa versus Fulham will see at least £160m of additional revenue over the next three seasons.

The firm says this figure could rise to in excess of £280m if the victorious club survives its first season at the higher level. It calculates that in the last 10 seasons to 2017/18, 20 (67%) of the 30 clubs promoted to the Premier League have avoided relegation in their first season. Last season was the first in seven years where all three of the promoted clubs avoided first-year relegation.

Football Clubs' Valuation: The European Elite 2018 is here.

Report by Pat Sweet