European champions Real Madrid are the world's most valuable football club for a third straight year, according to a Forbes poll that showed the average value of the top 20 teams rose 11 percent over last year.

The Spanish club's value fell five percent to $3.26bn but their $746m in revenue, the highest of any sports team in the world, was enough to keep them top of the list, Forbes said in a statement.

Barcelona ($3.16bn), Manchester United ($3.10bn), German champions Bayern Munich ($2.35bn) and Manchester City ($1.35bn) rounded out the top five.

Rising television and shirt sponsorship revenue helped drive the average value of the top 20 clubs to $1.16bn, a staggering 84 percent jump from five years ago.

Eight of the top 20 teams are from the English Premier League, which Forbes credited to both a rise in the British pound relative to the euro and US dollar and a lucrative new domestic TV deal starting from the 2016-17 season.

Serie A champions Juventus ($837m), AC Milan ($775m), Inter Milan ($439m) and Napoli ($353m) are the only Italian teams to crack the top 20 but none were higher than ninth place.

Forbes said the once-great Serie A brand has been undermined over the past decade by match-fixing scandals, antiquated stadiums, rising debts and a decline in talent on the pitch.

TOP 10
1 Real Madrid $3.26bn

2 Barcelona $3.16bn

3 Manchester United $3.10bn

4 Bayern Munich $2.35bn

5 Manchester City $1.38bn

6 Chelsea $1.37bn

7 Arsenal $1.31bn

8 Liverpool $982m

9 Juventus $837m

10 AC Milan $775m

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/05/150506163908727.html