Your not allowed pick Everton!

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

juventus.
biggest in italy and almost evry italian you meet outside of there is a juve fan. although in marleting or cash terms ushited or real madrid. rs could possibly be up there but theyd have to be biggest in their home city 1st

 

[mrunlucky]

Real Madrid and Man u

 

[TX Bill]

Manchester United, Barcelona, & Real Madrid.

 

[ToffeeDan]

In a footballing sense definitely Man Utd - but it used to be Real before the Mancs went global.

Apparently every man and his dog claim to support the [Poor language removed] or the Mancs - look at the Fantasy Leagues. Naturally most of them never go anywhere near their games.

In terms of the global brand it must be the Mancs tho. Good to see the Citteh in relation to the Mancs - same city, should be interesting, all in all.

 

[Jamo Martinez]

Think there's little to choose between Real Madrid and Utd.
The 9 European Cups and a longer tradition of having big name foreign stars (especially South American) would give Madrid the edge imo.

 

[Dutch Toffee]

Think there's little to choose between Real Madrid and Utd.
The 9 European Cups and a longer tradition of having big name foreign stars (especially South American) would give Madrid the edge imo.

Only looking at honours won, than definately Real Madrid and to be honest, we'd even have to put the RS before Man Utd. Three clubs, I can't stand. Ah well, at least they are not chosen ones.

 

[Jamo Martinez]

Don't think we can judge it purely on Honours won. If that were the case Notts forest would be on the same level as Juventus and Barcelona for European Cups won. Think we have to include world wide fan base, and Marketing capacity.

 

[Dutch Toffee]

Don't think we can judge it purely on Honours won. If that were the case Notts forest would be on the same level as Juventus and Barcelona for European Cups won. Think we have to include world wide fan base, and Marketing capacity.

Using world wide fan base and marketing capacity, was what I did in my first post. Really think, including these factors, it's between Barcelona and Celtic.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Think there's little to choose between Real Madrid and Utd.
The 9 European Cups and a longer tradition of having big name foreign stars (especially South American) would give Madrid the edge imo.

You should win things when you have the Spanish government batting for you. I wonder how much Real would have won without Franco as 12th man.

 

[Jamo Martinez]

You should win things when you have the Spanish government batting for you. I wonder how much Real would have won without Franco as 12th man.

That's a good question mate.
I hate the fekkers personally. Yeah they were probably a similar set up to some of the 'army' teams in the old eastern block like steaua Bucharest, Dukla prague and Honved. I bet Puskas would hace felt at home seeing all desicions go their way.

 

[Nebbiolo]

Strictly down to fan base, I think the top 5 would look like: Celtic, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United and RS and maybe Ajax (seeing as almost every foreign football fan I speak to, mentions Ajax, when telling them I'm Dutch). Purely based on my own preferences, I'd go for Celtic or Barcelona.

I know there are a lot of ex pats around the globe that support Celtic, but they are nowhere near as big in fan base as Man Utd. United attract supporters like [Poor language removed] attracts flies.

Top 5 would be something like this:

1. Man Utd (by a country mile)
2. Real Madrid
3. Barcelona
4. RS (they're [Poor language removed]!)
5. Juventus (way outside the other 4)

 

[Dutch Toffee]

I know there are a lot of ex pats around the globe that support Celtic, but they are nowhere near as big in fan base as Man Utd. United attract supporters like [Poor language removed] attracts flies.

Top 5 would be something like this:

1. Man Utd (by a country mile)
2. Real Madrid
3. Barcelona
4. RS (they're [Poor language removed]!)
5. Juventus (way outside the other 4)

Just have have to agree, to disagree then. I don't believe Man Utd have a bigger world wide fanbase as both Celtic and Barcelona. Celtic will (I estimate) have something like 30-40% of Scotland, who support them. I also think, that at least 90% of inhabitants of the Irish republic consider themselves Celtic fans. Also a lot of people world wide, with Irish roots (going back centuries), will always consider Celtic as their fav club. And just like Man Utd they have millions of 'followers' around the globe, myself included (Celtic that is, not Man Utd).

Same goes for Barca really, it's a way of life. The Catalan part of Spain, mainly consider Barca as their symbol in their quest for indepence. A lot of people around the globe adopt Barcelona as their favorite or 2nd club. Quite sure, for example that Barcelona would finish miles ahead of Man Utd in Holland, when our citizens would be asked the question: "Barcelona or Manchester United?"

 

[Vim Fuego]

Man.Utd without any shadow of doubt.

 

[Nebbiolo]

Just have have to agree, to disagree then. I don't believe Man Utd have a bigger world wide fanbase as both Celtic and Barcelona. Celtic will (I estimate) have something like 30-40% of Scotland, who support them. I also think, that at least 90% of inhabitants of the Irish republic consider themselves Celtic fans. Also a lot of people world wide, with Irish roots (going back centuries), will always consider Celtic as their fav club. And just like Man Utd they have millions of 'followers' around the globe, myself included (Celtic that is, not Man Utd).

Same goes for Barca really, it's a way of life. The Catalan part of Spain, mainly consider Barca as their symbol in their quest for indepence. A lot of people around the globe adopt Barcelona as their favorite or 2nd club. Quite sure, for example that Barcelona would finish miles ahead of Man Utd in Holland, when our citizens would be asked the question: "Barcelona or Manchester United?"

I think as many people in Ireland support Man Utd as do Celtic. And having lived in Scotland for 10 years, I would argue that much of the country actually dislikes the club on account of Scotland's history of anti-catholicism, especially in the west. I was about 30 miles from Glasgow, near Callander. The main support tended to be Rangers. In catholic Glasgow itself, many did indeed follow Celtic.

Where Man Utd, Real and Barcelona pick up support is in the emerging economies of the east. This is precisely where these clubs want to market the brand. Seeing as you have 1.5 billion in China and 1 billion in India alone, that would beat hands down the population of those from Irish immigrants in the new world.

According to this site, which bases its findings on website hits, which seems a fair way to measure the most supported team, Man Utd are top, the RS second and, surprisingly, Arsenal third:

http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1434

Article below which gets a bit jumbled. Better to click on above link.

Manchester United the World’s Most Popular Football Club Online
LONDON, U.K., MAY 15, 2007 – comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, today released worldwide traffic figures for the top European football clubs’ Web sites. With both the FA Cup and European Champions League finals just days away, the study reveals that the FA Cup Final teams (Manchester United and Chelsea) together attract a far larger global online site audience than the two teams in the final of the Champions League (Liverpool and A.C. Milan).
Manchester United attracted 2.2 million unique visitors to its Web site during March 2007, making it the world’s most popular football club online. The study also shows that roughly 60 percent, or 1.3 million, of Manchester United’s 2.2 million monthly visitors do not reside in the U.K. – quantifying the global reach and appeal of the Manchester United brand franchise. Rounding out the top 7 most popular football teams online are Liverpool (1.5 million global unique visitors), Arsenal (1.4 million), Real Madrid (1.1 million) , Barcelona (1.05 million), Chelsea (1.0 million) and A.C. Milan (0.8 million).
“Football is the most popular sport in the world, so it should not be surprising that the top teams have fans across the globe,” said Bob Ivins, managing director of comScore Europe. “Smart marketers realize that the true value of an endorsement relationship with a football club requires taking into consideration the size of the global fan base that the club attracts. In turn, that points to the value of comScore data in providing a global perspective.”

Worldwide Traffic to Football Sites by Unique Visitors (000)*
March 2007
Source: comScore World Metrix
Site
Club

Unique Visitors (000)​

Percentage of Visitation ​

from Team’s Home Country​

Worldwide​

Home Country​

Non-Home Country​

Manutd.com
Manchester United

2,218​

43%​

57%​

Liverpoolfc.tv
Liverpool

1,497​

53%​

47%​

Arsenal.com
Arsenal

1,435​

47%​

53%​

RealMadrid.com
Real Madrid

1,137​

33%​

67%​

FCBarcelona.com
Barcelona

1,053​

26%​

74%​

ChelseaFC.com
Chelsea

1,000​

38%​

62%​

ACMilan.com
AC Milan

825​

34%​

66%​

Inter.it
Inter Milan

824​

49%​

51%​

Juventus.com
Juventus

619​

31%​

69%​

Om.net
Marseille

531​

82%​

18%​

PSG.fr
Paris St Germain

413​

77%​

23%​

Olweb.fr
Lyon

319​

78%​

22%​

 

[Dutch Toffee]

So, you learn something new every day! Never thought, Man Utd had a bigger fanbase than Celtic. Ah well, the prove is quite obvious I reckon.