Euro MV rise 

©IMAGO

While all eyes will be on the World Cup this summer, few would argue that the Champions League final offers the best test for any world-class footballer in the sport today. On Saturday, Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain will lock horns to battle over the title of European champions, as some of the best players around the world look to showcase their talents and etch their names in history. For many, this match will be the most important 90 minutes of their careers and, as a result, the market values of those players can change rather dramatically based on what happens in the match. So which players have gained the most market value after starring in the Champions League final? Let’s take a look.

When we take a look back through previous seasons and tally up which players gained the most market value no more than 40 days after taking part in a Champions League final, we get a top 15 list like the one below. As we can see, a number of the biggest names in the sport over the last 10 or 15 years saw their market values rise rather dramatically after they helped their team to the ultimate prize in domestic football. It must be remembered that these rises aren’t always a reflection just based on the Champions League final and will be a result of the three month period between updates, but there’s no doubt an outstanding final can make a difference.

As we can see, PSG already have a number of players in the top 15, having won the Champions League last season. Following their victory over Inter Milan, the club saw Nuno Mendes (+€15 million), Vitinha (+20m), Willian Pacho (+20m), and, most notably, Désiré Doué (+30m) all gain significant market value rises in the next u[date after a comprehensive victory in the final. Three of Real Madrid’s recent successes in the tournament are represented by four players: Gareth Bale gained €20m in 2018, Rodrygo gained €20m in 2022 and Federico Valverde and Vinicius Jr gained €20m and €30m respectively after Madrid beat Borussia Dortmund in 2024. Their Spanish rivals, Barcelona, have just one player on the list in the form of Luis Suárez, who gained €20m when the club won the European Cup in 2015.

Bayern Munich’s success in 2020 saw Serge Gnabry gain €18m in market value and Alphonso Davies gain €20m in market value, after becoming European champions. And, curiously, Liverpool have no less than four players in the top 15 after Jürgen Klopp’s side went all the way in the 2018/19 season to beat Tottenham Hotspur and win the club its sixth major European title: Alisson (+€15m), Virgil van Dijk (+€15m), Trent Alexander-Arnold (+€30m), and Sadio Mané (+€35m). This means that no player has gained more market value after winning the Champions League than the Senegalese international.