Manchester United has not been the best football club on the field of late, however, off it, they have some reason to cheer as they have now reclaimed the title of being the most popular football club in the world. According to the latest data, Manchester United sold more replica football shirts than any other club in the world.
Dr. Peter Rohlmann and the team at PR Marketing are the ones who have come up with the latest research, showing t-shirt sales from the year 2011 to 2016. The Red Devils sold an average of 1.75 million shirts a year since 2011, as per the estimates.
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Man United's record deal with Adidas in 2015 helped them edge Real Madrid, who were in second place having sold 100,000 fewer shirts. Barcelona and Bayern Munich came in third and fourth places respectively.
Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal are in fifth, sixth and seventh places respectively as they make up three of the four English clubs in the top ten. Man United's city rivals, Manchester City are in 13th place with 342,000 shirts sold a year.
Rohlmann, who has specialised in analysing kit supply deals and their sales by top European football clubs noted that the rise in the shirt sales, generally, has been expected.
“Generally, the sales of replica shirts have increased at a constant growth rate. Football jerseys are more popular than ever and their attractive designs increasingly mean fans want to wear them away from match days,” he said.
Last week, a report based on the study of Premier League shirt sales revealed that Man United had four players in the top ten of most shirt sales. Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic made up the top two spots while David de Gea and Marcus Rashford also made the list.
All this just goes to prove that even though Man United have won only one trophy (FA Cup 2015/16) since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, the club has remained popular among the fans.
However, the club will be hoping that new manager Jose Mourinho will guide them to more silverware since taking up the job this summer. United face arch rivals, Liverpool in tonight's EPL match.
Average shirt sales a year (from 2011/12 – 2015/16):
| Club (Country) | Average Shirts Sold |
| Manchester United (England) | 1.75 million |
| Real Madrid (Spain) | 1.65 million |
| Barcelona (Spain) | 1.28 million |
| Bayern Munich (Germany) | 1.2 million |
| Chelsea (England) | 899,000 |
| Liverpool (England) | 852,000 |
| Arsenal (England) | 835,000 |
| Paris Saint-Germain (France) | 526,000 |
| Juventus (Italy) | 452,000 |
| Borussia Dortmund (Germany) | 393,000 |
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