A
study shows the most popular Premier League clubs worldwide as well as the clubs each
country favours. Manchester United dominates worldwide but many countries
favour another team – often because their own national football heroes played
for the team.
Going Global is a study on worldwide popularity of Premier League teams. Premier League is England’s primary football competition and often claimed as the world’s best
football league.
We know for sure that in England Premier League is the most watched sports competition (latest statistics tell us that 14.6M people watched the games and 39.6M watched the highlights of the games) but most of the fans are actually overseas, and we have found out where.
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| Arsenal popularity all over the world |
We know for sure that in England Premier League is the most watched sports competition (latest statistics tell us that 14.6M people watched the games and 39.6M watched the highlights of the games) but most of the fans are actually overseas, and we have found out where.
According to Going Global, Premier
League boasts an estimated 1.2bn fans worldwide. By using Facebook Audience
Insights data we were able to find out where the most fanatical supporters of
different Premier League teams were. Moreover, we looked at the most popular
teams in each country and compared the teams both worldwide and on a national
level.
Manchester United has the strongest
global fanbase
Now 1.2bn people follow Premier
League clubs worldwide. Manchester United has the strongest global support with 95M
fans, followed by Chelsea (75M) and Arsenal (42.5M). The full list is
below.
Premier League clubs ranked by
Facebook followers
1. Manchester United (95 million)
2. Chelsea (75
million)
3. Arsenal (42.5
million)
4. Liverpool (32.5
million)
5. Manchester
City (32.5million)
6. Tottenham
Hotspur (22.5 million)
7.
Everton (8.5 million)
8.
Southampton (7.5million)
9.
West Bromwich Albion (7.5 million)
10.
Leicester City (6.5 million)
11.
West Ham United (6.5 million)
12.
Crystal Palace (2.8 million)
13.
Stoke City (2.8 million)
14.
Sunderland (2.8 million)
15.
Middlesbrough (2.3 million)
16.
Hull City (1.8 million)
17.
Swansea City (1.8 million)
18.
Watford (1.3 million)
19.
Bournemouth (750K)
20.
Burnley (750K)
Where in the world is your Premier League team particularly popular?
If you're a Manchester
United fan, you might be surprised to know that the highest
concentration of ManU fans is in Tunisia, followed by Ethiopia and Malaysia.
Chelsea fans find the highest
concentration of their peers from Portugal, followed by Ivory
Coast and Senegal.
The highest concentration of Arsenal fans
can be found from Ethiopia, followed by Kenya and Uganda.
Liverpool is extremely popular among
people in Uruguay, followed by Denmark and Ireland.
Manchester City finds the highest
concentration of their fans from Senegal, followed by Argentina and Ireland.
Tottenham Hotspur's most passionate fans in
comparison to global average can be found from Croatia, followed by Senegal and Egypt.
Key
players define what team the whole country supports?
It
looks like only one player can define what team a whole country supports. Here
are a few examples.
Tottenham
Hotspur's popularity in Croatia can be
explained by the Croatian trio that played for the club between 2008-2012:
Vedran Ćorluka, Niko Kranjčar and Luka Modrić.
Uruguay
have the highest concentration of Liverpool fans globally (600%
average),outstripping second-placed Ireland by double (300%). Beyond the
obvious links with the departed Luis Suarez, it’s fascinating to learn that
Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital, is home to a team called Liverpool Futbol Club,
which was named after the Merseysiders by virtue of the fact that they used to
import the majority of their coal from Liverpool.
How
Riyad Mahrez inspired a nation of Leicester City fans: Algeria
have the highest concentration of Leicester fans globally (1200%). For
comparison’s sake, the concentration of Leicester's UK fan base is just 129%
above the global average. Thailand boast the third-highest concentration of
Foxes fans (365%), which can be attributed to their Thai chairman, Vichai
Srivaddhanaprabha, and his efforts to market the club in Asia with pre-season
tours.
Finland
is for Liverpool because of Sami Hyypiä's success as the team's captain: Finland
stands out on the map. Unlike in the rest of the world where Manchester United
dominates, Liverpool has the highest support. Could the reason for that be Sami
Hyypiä, the Finnish defender who spent ten years (1999-2009) playing for the
team and also served as its captain?
Have
a look at the results in full, press start and enjoy the interactive graphical view.
Going Global: The worldwide fanbases of the Premier League
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