The 2026 World Cup kicked off this week to put billions of followers around the world in front of 104 matches in which they watch 48 teams, amid an atmosphere that raises the passion of fans to its peak and renews their dreams of owning shares in their favorite clubs through financial brokerage accounts, but experts ask the more difficult question about the financial feasibility of this move?

Pelé Index reveals the gloomy returns compared to global markets

A serious research study conducted by Egon Asset Management through what it calls the "Pelé Index", which tracks the performance of European clubs listed since 1998, showed harsh results that shocked fans, as the index lagged strongly behind global stocks, achieving a meager return of just 0.4% in the 2025/26 season, compared to 27% for global stocks and 17% for European stocks.

The total value of the index has fallen by about 11% since 1998, at a time when global stocks have yielded a return of nearly 678%, in simple numbers: an investment of €1,000 in football clubs in 1998 would have melted to €892 today, while the investment itself would have grown to €7,784 (about nine times) if it had been placed in a global equity fund.

18 clubs that make up the market capitalization of the index

The index includes 18 European clubs whose shares are traded on public exchanges with a combined market value of about 7.1 billion euros distributed across 9 leagues, where each club is weighted according to its market capitalization.

Manchester United dominated the largest share at nearly 25%, followed by Italy's Juventus and Turkey's Fenerbahce, along with Celtic, Benfica, Porto, Olympique Lyonnais, Borussia Dortmund, and Danish clubs such as Brundby and Silkeborg, and one country was completely absent from the scene, Spain, as no LaLiga club was listed on the stock exchange.

Jördi Hermans, portfolio manager and investment strategist at Aegon , told Euronews that ordinary companies aim to maximize shareholder value while clubs are there to win games and entertain fans, goals that contradict and push decisions towards trophy chasing rather than financial discipline.

Hermans cited Juventus as a stark cautionary tale, as his stock jumped above €10 when Cristiano Ronaldo joined in 2018, but the stock is trading below €2 today, down 35% this season after finishing in sixth place, confirming that the problem of investing in the ball is a structural problem, not a cyclical one, as the beautiful game is worth your heart but your portfolio is worth your mind.