United have been valued at €3.004 billion (£2.61bn), ahead of both Real (€2.895bn) and Barcelona (€2.688bn). KPMG had estimated Madrid and United as being worth €2.9bn at the end of the 2015-16 season.

Bayern Munich (€2.367bn) are fourth on the list, with Manchester City (€1.909bn) the next highest-placed English team in fifth. Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Juventus and Tottenham Hotspur complete the top 10.

In May, United announced projected full-year revenues of between £560 million and £570m and expected profits that could eclipse their current record of £191.9m.

They currently have 26 global sponsorship deals, including with kit manufacturer adidas, shirt sponsor Chevrolet, 20th Century Fox and Uber, as well as 10 regional sponsorship deals and 28 other media and financial partners.

Broadcasting rights alone are worth £8.3bn to the 20 Premier League teams.

KPMG, one of the world's four big auditing companies along with Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young, estimate that United are the first football club to break through the €3bn barrier for enterprise value.

Andrea Sartori, KPMG's global head of sports and author of "Football Clubs' Valuation: The European Elite 2017," said: "The aggregate value of Europe's 32 leading football clubs suggests that the overall value of football, as an industry, has grown.

"While this is partially explained by football's broadcasting boom, the internationalisation of the clubs' commercial operations, their investment into privately-owned and modern facilities, and overall more sustainable management practices, are also key reasons for this growth.

"In terms of media rights value, the English Premier League sits comfortably at the top of European leagues, although other major leagues have outlined well-defined strategies to compete for the attention of global fans.

"However, unlike other factors, individual club's ability to influence their broadcasting income is often limited, despite the very evident impact this revenue stream has on their enterprise value."

The report also noted that Manchester City surprisingly passed Arsenal to round out the top five with a value of €1.9bn and credited the value of Spanish clubs climbing 10 percent in the collective standings to the significant growth of Atletico Madrid (plus-34 percent) and Sevilla (plus-44 percent), while also being the only league with two teams -- Real and Barca -- above the €2bn threshold for enterprise value.

The world's 15 most valuable football clubs:

1. Manchester United (€3.004bn)
2. Real Madrid (€2.895bn)
3. Barcelona (€2.688bn)
4. Bayern Munich (€2.367bn)
5. Manchester City (€1.909bn)
6. Arsenal (€1.882bn)
7. Chelsea (€1.524bn)
8. Liverpool (€1.260bn)
9. Juventus (€1.158bn)
10. Tottenham Hotspur (€978m)
11. Paris Saint-Germain (€948m)
12. Borussia Dortmund (€917m)
13. Atletico Madrid (€771m)
14. Schalke (€663m)
15. AC Milan (€504m)