Indian Premier League is catching up with the FIFA World Cup in sponsorship index valuation in the chart of the top 20 most powerful sports brands.

The richest cricket league in the world, that tops all sponsorship ranking charts for the sport in India, is placed in the 17th position globally among the sports properties like the National Basketball Association of the USA, FIFA World Cup, the Premier League and Formula 1.

POWA index, world’s first data-driven, real-time sports sponsorship valuation engine, has released the list of the Global Top 20 premier sports commercial properties. The POWA index provides a “holistic view of the market by incorporating traditional media, digital platforms and fan interactions” to help brands optimise their sponsorship investment strategies. The real-time valuation also “enables sports teams, leagues and rights owners to demonstrate and improve their sponsorship value”.

The POWA index, with the National Basketball Association at the top, has the FIFA World Cup 2018 in the 15th position. Formula 1 comes next followed by the IPL. Index points are calculated on value points across social media, online searches and on-field performances.

The Premier League for the £47.9 million annual title sponsorship fee from Vivo, which according to POWA sponsorship valuation index gives the brand a return value of £ 31.8 million, is credited with 28,167 POWA Index Points.

FIFA World Cup 2018 has 33,685 Index Points in the 15th position, while Formula 1 follows with 30,941.

The top 20 table also highlights the “club over country” and “leagues bigger than World Cup” factor in football. Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, who have £61 million (Emirates) and £47.2 million (Rakuten) title sponsorship deals respectively, are placed in the No. 2 and No. 3 position. Both the Spanish La Liga clubs are giving their sponsors ROIs higher than the multi-million dollar sponsorship deals.

Uefa Champions League, Premier League and the Spanish La Liga are all rated better than the FIFA World Cup, world’s second largest sporting spectacle behind the Olympics.

The table is constantly updated based upon real-time social media trends, sponsorship deals, online searches and of course the performances on the field.