If you’re a true football fan, then you among all must understand the pain of having to own every bit of the merchandise sold by your favourite football club. Jerseys, tees, shirts, scarves, be it whatever, you just have to own it. Why? Because you HAVE TO! You just do! It is a symbol of your loyalty to your club. To show them that you care, and it is the way you give back to all those players who put in their best for your club. It is a sense of pride. Then among all the clubs around the world, have you ever wondered which clubs have the most loyal fans? Let’s find out.
Here are the top 5 football clubs that sell the highest number of their club merchandise.
The red devils have regained their status as the world’s most popular football club by sales of official replica shirts according to authoritative new research.
The Old Trafford club sold an average of 1.75m shirts per year in the five-season period from 2011-12 to 2015-16 inclusive.
That puts them in the No1 spot in European football – and the world.
The Spanish giants Real Madrid who are selling just 100,000 items lesser than the Manchester United each year with 1.65M merchandise sold, putting them high up in the second spot. All you Ronaldo fans may have to work a bit harder to steal the spotlight.
Messi … Messi.. Clap clap clap! Gear up, you Barca fans, you made it. You guys are one among the most loyal fans out there. The tally puts the world’s third most valuable sports franchise at $3.55 billion on pace to meet its target revenue of €1 billion by 2021, and 1.27m shirt sales altogether.
Sponsors love Barcelona in part because of its role as the top sports team on social media. The club had 148 million followers across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as of last month thanks to the star power of players like Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez and not to forget, you Barca fans out there!
The German giants have been conducting extensive business to develop their brand, increase revenue and streamline their squad. It’s a project many years in the making and one that has accelerated in 2016. Germany juggernaut Bayern Munich sit in fourth place with 1.2M sales with their brand association with Adidas.
The Blues shifted 3,102,000 shirts globally despite a dismal campaign which saw a limp defense of their Premier League title.
It means they slot in just under Bayern Munich, who sold 3,312,000, coming in at 5th place on the chart of merchandise sales.
This ranking is based on a number of factors, with commercial revenue becoming increasingly important to the wealthiest football clubs, sales and of course the die-hard club crazed fans who buy their merchandise. So there is a direct co-relation between clubs and their loyal fans. So soar your flags high if your club made it to the list.
