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A year ago, Cardiff City were at the centre of a takeover frenzy. The Bluebirds had just been relegated to League One and, for the first time in several years, there was genuine uncertainty over whether Vincent Tan's long-term ownership of the club was coming to an end. Three parties were understood to have expressed an interest in taking control of Wales' capital club, with the highest-profile proposal fronted by Gareth Bale. Bale was involved alongside American businessman David Storch, who has since completed the purchase of Sheffield Wednesday through his Arise Capital Partners consortium. The Owls' takeover was completed in May after the club had entered administration, with reports putting the value of that bid at around £20m. WalesOnline understands the figures being discussed around a potential Cardiff takeover last summer were around £26m. Tan, perhaps understandably, felt that figure was substantially below what he believed Cardiff were worth. A year on, that valuation looks particularly interesting. Join the Cardiff City breaking news and top stories WhatsApp community. Cardiff have won promotion back to the Championship at the first attempt. They have a manager in Brian Barry-Murphy whom Tan is understood to be hugely enthusiastic about, while the club's young players are increasingly at the centre of its strategy. For context, Leicester City have this week been put on the market with their owners reportedly a whopping seeking £224m, despite the Foxes now also being in League One. So how do you value a football club? And, more importantly, how much is Cardiff City actually worth now? It is worth stressing that football club valuations are not an exact science. There is no stock market price for Cardiff City. It is a privately-owned company, and its latest filed group accounts cover the year ending May 31, 2025. What somebody is prepared to pay for the club can be very different to what the balance sheet says it is worth. That is particularly true in football, where future broadcasting revenue, promotion prospects, stadium ownership or lease arrangements, player values, academy potential, commercial appeal and even the location of a club can all have a bearing. But there are several ways of getting somewhere close to a valuation. And when you put the numbers together, it becomes clear why a figure in the region of £70m-£80m is not unreasonable. Before getting into the numbers, there is one crucial point to make. There is little evidence that Tan is currently looking to sell Cardiff. The Malaysian businessman is now 74 and has previously spoken about family members encouraging him to step away from the club, but his commitment has remained remarkably strong during almost 17 years of ownership. This summer has been another example. It is understood Tan committed an initial £3m towards the signing of Jack Moylan, while Cardiff also tabled an offer worth an initial £6.2m for Jens Hjertø-Dahl before the midfielder ultimately moved to Hull City. Tan has also held talks with Barry-Murphy in Kuala Lumpur about the direction of travel for the club and is understood to be energised by the manager's vision, evidenced by agreeing to tie him down to a fresh three-year deal this summer. In particular, there is an enthusiasm around the idea of seeing young, homegrown players become the core of the first team. So - to be clear - this is not about suggesting Cardiff are for sale. It is about asking a hypothetical question: if Tan eventually decided the time was right, what might the club be worth? Revenue multiple One relatively simple way of valuing a football club is to apply a multiple to its annual revenue. Cardiff's latest accounts recorded revenue of around £25.8m. A valuation of twice revenue would therefore put the club at around £51.6m. But this is where things become subjective. Some clubs and investors may use a multiple closer to two times revenue, while others could use four times revenue depending on the circumstances, assets, prospects and financial health of the club. Four times Cardiff's latest revenue would produce a figure of £103.2m. That is a huge difference and illustrates why simply multiplying turnover by a particular number does not provide a definitive answer. Cardiff are also now a Championship club rather than the League One outfit reflected in those latest accounts. That matters. Net asset value Another method is to look at net asset value (NAV). In simple terms, that means taking the value of a company's assets and subtracting its liabilities. Again, it is not perfect for a football club, but it gives us an interesting starting point. Cardiff do not technically own Cardiff City Stadium outright, but they signed a 150-year lease in 2009. The stadium is therefore a significant part of the club's overall asset base and has previously carried a substantial valuation. For the purposes of this rough exercise, we are putting the stadium's current value at approximately £110m. The players are another significant asset. Cardiff's squad value is difficult to pin down because transfer values fluctuate wildly according to age, contract length, performance and market demand. But a rough assessment of the current playing squad — particularly given the huge value in the likes of Dylan Lawlor, Alex Robertson, Ronan Kpakio, Yousef Salech, Cian Ashford, Will Fish, Joel and Rubin Colwill and others now sprouting through — puts its total value at around £60m. That is not the amount Cardiff would necessarily receive if every player was sold tomorrow. It is simply an estimate of the underlying value of the playing assets. Then there are the training grounds. Cardiff's new Llanrumney academy complex is built on a 16-acre site and cost around £8m. The club is also continuing plans for an improved first-team training structure at Hensol, with the proposed project understood to be worth more than the academy development. For the purposes of this calculation, a combined figure of approximately £20m for those assets is a reasonable rough estimate, although this is arguably the figure around which there is the greatest uncertainty. That gives us: Cardiff City Stadium: ~£110m Playing squad: ~£60m Llanrumney and Hensol training infrastructure: ~£20m Total assets: ~£190m Then comes the other side of the equation. The debt Cardiff's latest accounts showed liabilities of around £161m at May 31, 2025. But there has since been a major change. Tan converted £42m of Cardiff City's debt into equity, reducing the liabilities figure by that amount. On that basis, the outstanding liabilities would be approximately £119m. So: Assets: ~£190m Liabilities: ~£119m Net asset value: ~£71m That gives us a fascinating starting point. Importantly, the £71m figure should not be presented as Cardiff City's definitive value. It is a rough estimate based on assumptions around the value of the stadium, squad and training infrastructure, alongside the latest available liabilities. Football clubs simply do not work that neatly. There are also intangible assets which can have a significant impact. What Leicester and Wednesday tell us The current situation at Leicester and Sheffield Wednesday demonstrates just how differently clubs can be valued. Sheffield Wednesday's £20m takeover was completed after the club had entered administration, with the deal structured around the specific financial circumstances facing the Owls. Leicester, meanwhile, are reportedly being marketed for more than £200m, despite now being in League One. Their recent Premier League title, Champions League experience, global profile and significant physical asset base all play into that valuation. It illustrates an important point that league position is just one metric. A football club's value can be influenced by: - Broadcasting revenue and future earning potential - Commercial and sponsorship income - Matchday revenue - Stadium assets - Training facilities - Playing squad value - Academy infrastructure - Brand power - Fanbase - Location - Historical success - Premier League prospects - Potential for future player sales And Cardiff have plenty going for them. They are based in the capital city of Wales, have a sizeable established fanbase, possess a substantial stadium asset, have invested heavily in academy infrastructure and are now back in the Championship. There is also the Premier League factor. A Championship club capable of reaching the Premier League suddenly has access to an entirely different level of broadcasting and commercial income. So what is Cardiff City worth? Taking all of those factors together, the rough calculation gives us a figure of around £71m. It's important to point out that means a debt-free valuation. That effectively gives us a valuation of £190m – minus the £119m liabilities. But I would put the realistic valuation slightly higher. The £71m NAV calculation does not fully account for Cardiff's intangible value, the club's location in a national capital, its fanbase, Championship status, commercial potential or the upside of Barry-Murphy's young squad. There is also the rather unusual position Cardiff find themselves in with regard to their debt. A significant proportion of the remaining debt is owed to Tan himself. Tan has previously indicated that he wants to leave Cardiff debt-free when he eventually sells. That means a buyer may not necessarily be expected to take on the full weight of those liabilities in the same way they would with a conventional distressed acquisition. That could materially change the eventual sale price. For those reasons, a figure around £70m-£80m feels like a reasonable ballpark for Cardiff City at this moment in time, albeit one that comes with plenty of caveats. It is certainly a very different proposition to the roughly £26m takeover figure being discussed 12 months ago. And Tan holds the trump card Ultimately, though, there is only one person who decides what Cardiff City is worth. Vincent Tan. If he does not want to sell, the market value is largely academic. He has invested heavily in the club for 16 years and his commitment has not wavered, even through relegation, major and fierce scrutiny and backlash, ownership uncertainty and some difficult financial periods. Now he has a manager he believes in. He has a young squad which has just secured promotion. He is continuing to invest in the playing side and infrastructure. And he has a vision for Cardiff built around developing young players and, ideally, taking the club back towards the Premier League. That means Tan may look at the club today and see something worth considerably more than the £70m-£80m rough estimate we have arrived at. He may instead believe the value will rise substantially over the next few years. A young player such as Cian Ashford or Rubin Colwill could establish himself and see his value soar. A breakthrough Championship season for Yousef Salech could do the same. Promotion to the Premier League would transform the financial picture altogether. And that is perhaps the most important part of this exercise. Cardiff City are worth whatever somebody is prepared to pay for them — and whatever Tan is prepared to accept. Right now, though, a year after the failed takeover attempts and with Championship football secured, the evidence suggests the club's value has moved a long way beyond the figures being discussed last summer. And if Barry-Murphy delivers on the vision Tan is now so enthusiastic about, that number could look very different again in 12 months' time.