No one knows who they are, say advertising agency

Sounding more and more like a supervillain with every day that passes, Manchester City executive chairman Garry Cook (pictured above, probably thinking about money) this week revealed plans to turn the club into the ‘Virgin of Asia and the world’ - he expects to City-branded cars, restaurants, energy drinks and motorcycle helmets in the coming years.

His ambitious plans, however, may be thwarted on two counts: firstly, with the exception of the Eastlands faithful, no football fan in the world will eat a City burger, put City smoke alarms in their house or brush with City toothpaste. Secondly, according to the BBDO advertising agency, City are not among Europe’s top 25 most recognisable brands. In fact, in terms of mid- and long-term advertising revenue potential, they are beaten by Lille, Stuttgart and Benfica.

Here are the top 25, where the bracketed figure represents brand value:

Real Madrid ($1.498B)
FC Barcelona ($1.336B)
Manchester United ($1.299B)